There's a kind of optimism specifically within Christianity about the world - about whose side God is on. Well, I didn't have any of that in my background. I had physicality and chaos.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
I didn't start off as a journalist; I started off as a poet. My ambition was to practise poetry. Then I found journalism, but that other voice never fled from me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of one's roots and original ambitions in shaping their career path.
Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on his journey from poetry to journalism, emphasizing how his initial passion for poetry continues to influence his work. He suggests that regardless of the paths we take in our careers, the core of who we are and what we love remains with us, shaping our perspectives and voices in every endeavor.
Themes
PoetryJournalismAmbitionVoiceCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to inspire students to pursue their original passions, even if they take a different career path.
More from Ta-Nehisi Coates
All quotes →We've got in the habit of not really understanding how freedom was in the 19th century, the idea of government of the people in the 19th century. America commits itself to that in theory.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
I never expected my writing to become as popular as it did.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
It's hard for me to view Baltimore outside the context of what Baltimore has always been in my mind: a violent place.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
If I could have anything - you know, and this is across the board for any presidential candidate - I would have a greater acknowledgment of history in our policy and in our affairs.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
You can't make a direct comparison between middle-class African Americans and middle-class white Americans, affluent African Americans and affluent white Americans. The amount of wealth tends to be less.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
Similar quotes
It’s a curious thing. I suppose most people think of artists as impatient but I don’t know of any first-rate artist who hasn’t manifested in his career an appalling patience, a willingness to wait and to do his best now in the expectation that next year he will do better.
Mark Van DorenRead
Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.
George SandRead
There's nothing worse than sitting down to write a novel and saying, 'Well, okay, I'm going to do something of high artistic worth.'
Douglas AdamsRead
My art is about paying attention - about the extremely dangerous possibility that you might be art.
Robert RauschenbergRead
Gay writers now have both a sense of history and the fables that allows them to dwell in the realms of the ridiculous and at the same time talk seriously about things.
Tony KushnerRead
The word-coining genius, as if thought plunged into a sea of words and came up dripping.
Virginia WoolfRead