He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
Marilynne RobinsonRead
I was read to as a small child, I read on my own as soon as I could, and I recall being more or less overwhelmed again and again - if not by what the books actually said, by what they suggested, what they helped me to imagine.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading is a transformative experience that ignites imagination and personal growth.
In this quote, Marilynne Robinson reflects on the profound impact that reading has had on her life, starting from childhood. She emphasizes that it is not just the content of the books that influences her, but also the imaginative possibilities and suggestions they provide, which encourage personal exploration and intellectual growth.
Themes
ReadingImaginationBooksImpactGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote during a book club meeting to emphasize the importance of reading.
More from Marilynne Robinson
All quotes →It seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good measure. It seems that the spirit of religious self-righteousness this article deplores is precisely the spirit in which it is written. Of course he's right about many things, one of them being the destructive potency of religious self-righteousness. (p. 146)
Marilynne RobinsonRead
A narrow pond would form in the orchard, water clear as air covering grass and black leaves and fallen branches, all around it black leaves and drenched grass and fallen branches, and on it, slight as an image in an eye, sky, clouds, trees, our hovering faces and our cold hands.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful in the light of morning. Light within light...It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human soul, the singular light within that great general light of existence.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
There are worries that seem to me sustained by the love of worry. For example, that people are reading from screens, or listening to recorded books. Why scold the impulse to enjoy language and narrative in whatever form it takes?
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Teaching is a distraction and a burden, but it's also an incredible stimulus. And a reprieve, in a way. When you're trying to work on something and it's not going anywhere, you can go to school and there's a two-and-a-half-hour block of time in which you can accomplish something.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Similar quotes
The ancient superficial idea of the uniform and progressive growth of the human personality has remained unaltered, and the erroneous belief has persisted that it is the duty of the adult to fashion the child according to the pattern required by society.
Maria MontessoriRead
Children not only have to learn what their parents learned in school, but also have to learn how to learn. This has to be recognized as a new problem which is only partly solved.
Margaret MeadRead
I went away in my head, into a book. That was where I went whenever real life was too hard or too inflexible.
Neil GaimanRead
We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.
Margaret MeadRead
The reader's ear must adjust down from loud life to the subtle, imaginary sounds of the written word. An ordinary reader picking up a book can't yet hear a thing; it will take half an hour to pick up the writing's modulations, its ups and downs and louds and softs.
Annie DillardRead
If you intend to study the mind, you must have systematic training; you must practice to bring the mind under your control.
Swami VivekanandaRead