To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Joan DidionRead
I was supposed to have a script, and had mislaid it. I was supposed to hear cues, and no longer did. I was meant to know the plot, but all I knew was what I saw: flash pictures in variable sequence, images with no 'meaning' beyond their temporary arrangement, not a movie but a cutting-room experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the unpredictability of life and how one can often find themselves navigating through experiences without a clear script or direction.
In this quote, Joan Didion expresses the idea that life can often feel chaotic and disorganized, likening it to a sequence of disjointed images rather than a coherent story. She suggests that we might lose our sense of direction and certainty, confronting a reality that is more about fleeting moments and unpredictable experiences than about following a predetermined path.
Themes
LifeUncertaintyExperienceChaosMoments
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about navigating life’s unexpected challenges at a seminar.
More from Joan Didion
All quotes →The truth is, it's easier for me to write than talk... to express the state I'm in at any time.
Joan DidionRead
Memories are what you no longer want to remember.
Joan DidionRead
It was clear, for example, in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent.
Joan DidionRead
I mean maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?
Joan DidionRead
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
Joan DidionRead
Similar quotes
Who ARE You?" This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.
Lewis CarrollRead
I don't really know if it's the right thing to do, making new life. Kids grow up, generations take their place. What does it all come to? More hills bulldozed and more ocean fronts filled in? Faster cars and more cats run over? Who needs it?
Haruki MurakamiRead
Each of us is responsible for everything and to every human being.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world, and that God will preserve it always.
Douglas MacarthurRead
This rule of silence is upheld when the culture refuses everyone easy access even to the word “patriarchy.” Most children do not learn what to call this system of institutionaliz ed gender roles, so rarely do we name it in everyday speech. This silence promotes denial. And how can we organize to challenge and change a system that cannot be named?
Bell HooksRead
If the awareness of our limitations begins to limit or to dim our value consciousness as well—as happens, for instance, in old age with regard to the values of youth—then we have already started the movement of devaluation which will end with the defamation of the world and all its values. Only a timely act of resignation can deliver us from this tendency toward self-delusion.
Max SchelerRead