There's an old saying: 'No piece of writing is ever finished, it's just abandoned.' But my own rule is: No piece of work is done until you want to kill everyone involved in the publishing process, especially yourself.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Someday you will die, and until you know that, you're useless to me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the inevitability of death, suggesting that acknowledging mortality can lead to a deeper understanding of life.
Chuck Palahniuk's quote confronts the reality of mortality, implying that recognizing one's eventual death is crucial for authentic living. It suggests that those who ignore the finite nature of life may miss out on its profound meanings and purposes, thus becoming 'useless' in a philosophical sense. The acknowledgment of death serves as a motivator to live fully and meaningfully.
Themes
MortalityLifeDeathExistenceMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussing the meaning of life, this quote can initiate deep conversations among students.
More from Chuck Palahniuk
All quotes →Griping isn't the same as creating something. Rebelling isn't rebuilding. Ridiculing isn't replacing. We've taken the world apart but we have no idea what to do with the pieces.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If we can forgive what’s been done to us... If we can forgive what we’ve done to others... If we can leave all of our stories behind. Our being villains or victims. Only then can we maybe rescue the world.
Chuck PalahniukRead
We're all trapped. It's always 1734. All of us, we're stuck in the same time capsule, the same as those television shows where the same people are marooned on the same desert island for thirty seasons and never age or escape. They just wear more makeup. In a creepy way, those shows are maybe too authentic.
Chuck PalahniukRead
One thing I really envy about my friends who have kids is that as their children develop, they're able to revisit their own developmental stages and recognise themselves and undo a lot of things they decided.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing 'real' was at risk, what would you do? You'd live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That's what the ghosts want us to do - all the exciting things they no longer can.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Similar quotes
That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything.
Noam ChomskyRead
This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.
HeraclitusRead
People have motives and thoughts of which they are unaware.
Albert EllisRead
We must take the profit out of war.
Smedley ButlerRead
Prohibition is an attempted cure that makes matters worse - for both the addict and the rest of us.
Milton FriedmanRead
They all attended Hester's church, which Dellarobia viewed as a complicated pyramid scheme of moral debt and credit resting ultimately on the shoulders of the Lord, but rife with middle managers.
Barbara KingsolverRead