One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
We look up at the same stars and see such different things." - Jon Snow
Interpretation
People may share the same experiences yet interpret them in vastly different ways.
This quote reflects on the idea that perception is subjective; while we may all share common experiences, the way we understand and find meaning in those experiences can differ significantly from person to person. It invites introspection about our individual perspectives and encourages empathy towards how others may see the world differently from us.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussing the nature of reality.
One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring.
There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: βNot today.
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.β He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. βI wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. I am innocent, but I will get no justice here.
But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. 'Life is not a song, sweetling,' he'd told her, 'You may learn that one day to your sorrow.' In life, the monsters win, she told herself.
I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.
If alpha [the fine-structure constant] were bigger than it really is, we should not be able to distinguish matter from ether [the vacuum, nothingness], and our task to disentangle the natural laws would be hopelessly difficult. The fact however that alpha has just its value 1/137 is certainly no chance but itself a law of nature. It is clear that the explanation of this number must be the central problem of natural philosophy.
Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet out of the tomb toward the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God.
The secret was such an old one now, had so grown into me and become a part of myself, that I could not tear it away.
It's not a problem that we're sinners; it's a problem that we aren't ashamed of our sin and don't seek forgiveness.
Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil", it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil.
The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world.
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