No one's ever dared come out and say it before, but there's not a man among us that doesn't think it, that doesn't feel just as you do about her and the whole business - feel it somewhere down deep in his scared little soul.
Ken KeseyRead
I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle of confronting deep truths that may be difficult to accept.
In this powerful statement, Ken Kesey articulates the tumultuous experience of harboring raw emotions and truths that feel overwhelming. The metaphor of roaring like floodwaters suggests a powerful release of suppressed feelings, while simultaneously acknowledging the difficulty in processing these truths, whether they are factual or emotional. Kesey's expression reveals the complex interplay between reality and perception, emphasizing that the emotional truth can feel just as impactful as concrete events.
Themes
TruthEmotionsSilenceReleasePerspective
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about mental health, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of expressing suppressed feelings.
More from Ken Kesey
All quotes →His whole body shakes with the strain as he tries to lift something he knows he can't lift, something everybody knows he can't lift. But, for just a second, when we hear the cement grind at our feet, we think, by golly, he might do it.
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You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.
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But I remember one thing:_x000D_ _x000D_ it wasn't me that started acting deaf;_x000D_ _x000D_ it was people that first started acting like_x000D_ _x000D_ I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all
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The job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
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If this glorious birth to death hassle is the only hassle we are ever to have ..if our grand exhilarating fight of life is such a tragically short little scrap anyway,compared to the eons of rounds before and after-then why should one want to relinquish even a few precious seconds of it?
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