The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons -- it was systemic and it was complete.
Gary ShteyngartRead
Silence has been destroyed, but also the idea that it's important to learn how another person thinks, to enter the mind of another person. The whole idea of empathy is gone. We are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote discusses the loss of empathy and personal connection in a technology-driven world.
In this quote, Gary Shteyngart highlights how the advent of constant communication through devices has eroded our ability to empathize and understand one another on a deeper level. He argues that as we engage in a continuous stream of sharing our opinions, we lose sight of the true significance of entering another person's mind and experiencing their thoughts and feelings, thus revealing a societal concern about the impact of technology on human relationships.
Themes
EmpathyTechnologyCommunicationHuman ConnectionThoughts
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the effects of social media on relationships in a seminar.
More from Gary Shteyngart
All quotes →My hair would continue to gray, and then one day, it would fall out entirely, and then, on a day meaninglessly close to the present one, meaninglessly like the present one, I would disappear from the earth. And all these emotions, all these yearnings, all these data, if that helps to clinch the enormity of what I'm talking about, would be gone. And that's what immortality means. It means selfishness. My generations belief that each one of us matters more than you or anyone else would think.
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In contravention of my belief that any life ending in death is essentially pointless, I needed my friends to open up that plastic bag and take one last look at me. Someone had to remember me, if only for a few more minutes in the vast silent waiting room of time.
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That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention; they make you confuse attention for mercy.
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When civilization takes a nose dive, how can you look away? You've got to be there. You've got to be at the bottom of the swimming pool taking notes.
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Every returning New Yorker asks the question: Is this still my city? I have a ready answer, cloaked in obstinate despair: It is. And if it's not, I will love it all the more. I will love it to the point where it becomes mine again.
Gary ShteyngartRead
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