To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Joan DidionRead
We tell ourselves stories in order to live...We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the "ideas" with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We create narratives to find meaning in our experiences, even in tragedy.
In this quote, Joan Didion reflects on the human tendency to construct stories as a means of making sense of our lives and the chaotic world around us. She suggests that through storytelling, we impose order on the randomness of experience, allowing us to find lessons, morals, and insights even in the most difficult or tragic events.
Themes
StoriesMeaningExperienceNarrativeLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about coping with loss, one might quote Didion to illustrate how narratives help us make sense of tragedy.
More from Joan Didion
All quotes →The truth is, it's easier for me to write than talk... to express the state I'm in at any time.
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Memories are what you no longer want to remember.
Joan DidionRead
It was clear, for example, in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent.
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I mean maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?
Joan DidionRead
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
Joan DidionRead
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