I hope something happens. I'm restless as the devil and have a horror of getting fat or falling in love and growing domestic.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a fear of settling down and losing one's vitality or individuality.
F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses a sense of urgency and existential restlessness in this quote. He conveys his discomfort with the idea of becoming complacent or domesticated, fearing that such a fate would lead to a loss of passion and personal growth. This highlights the tension between the desire for stability and the fear of stagnation, suggesting a deep-seated need for change and vibrant experiences.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing change and the unknown, this quote can inspire listeners to take risks.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Choose your corner, pick away at it carefully, intensely and to the best of your ability and that way you might change the world.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
Things do change. The only question is that since things are deteriorating so quickly, will society and man's habits change quickly enough?
Acting on our own, by ourselves, we cannot establish justice throughout the world, but joined with other free nations, we can ... assist the developing nations to throw off the yoke of poverty.
If we lived within our means - by being prudent - the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
After weeks on the road, listening to a language you don’t understand, using a currency whose value you don’t comprehend, walking down streets you’ve never walked down before, you discover that your old “I,” along with everything you ever learned, is absolutely no use at all in the face of those new challenges, and you begin to realize that buried deep in your unconscious mind there is someone much more interesting and adventurous and more open to the world and to new experiences.
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