It really felt like my generation was deprived of a future that we believed was ours. I don't mean some hugely privileged future where we all have gigantic houses. I mean having a job.
Sally RooneyRead
I gave myself the small task of writing honestly about the kind of life I knew. I believe there is some value in carrying out that task, however limited.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of honesty in personal expression and the intrinsic value of sharing one's experiences.
In this quote, Sally Rooney reflects on her commitment to truthfully document her experiences as a form of self-exploration and expression. She suggests that even small, honest tasks can carry significant value, indicating that sharing one’s unique perspective contributes to a broader understanding of life, regardless of its perceived limitations.
In practice
A writer might use this quote to inspire fellow authors at a literary workshop.
It really felt like my generation was deprived of a future that we believed was ours. I don't mean some hugely privileged future where we all have gigantic houses. I mean having a job.
I find myself consistently drawn to writing about intimacy and the way we construct one another.
When I read interviews with people like Kevin Barry or Colin Barrett, who I hugely admire, they don't really seem to come up against the question of likeability even though their characters, in some instances, are really horrible.
Class is something that I think seriously about and try to organise my politics around. I think there are lots of novels that don't really engage with questions of class at all, and they get less conversation about issues of social privilege than I do. But it's better to try and talk about it and maybe fail.
On my tombstone they will carve, "IT NEVER GOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.
Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.
I have a living will and I have friends, and I have money and I have hope.
I don't like to give the sob story: growing up in a single-parent home, never knew my father, my mother never worked, and when friends came over I'd hide the welfare cheese. Yo, I failed ninth grade three times, but I don't think it was necessarily 'cause I'm stupid. I didn't go to school. I couldn't deal.
The Irish tell the story of a man who arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in St. Peter says, “Of course, just show us your scars.” The man says, “I have no scars”. St. Peter says, “What a pity was there nothing worth fighting for”?
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
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