The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
James JoyceRead
The studious silence of the library ... Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness.
Interpretation
Joyce emphasizes the profound and tranquil nature of contemplation found in libraries.
In this quote, James Joyce highlights the serene environment of a library as a space conducive to deep thought and reflection. He suggests that the act of thinking about thinking—metacognition—occurs in this tranquil setting, where the brightness symbolizes clarity and enlightenment gained through introspection and study.
In practice
During a graduation speech, one might quote this to highlight the importance of self-reflection throughout the educational journey.
The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.
Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs about the end of love; Lay aside sadness and sing How love that passes is enough. Sing about the long deep sleep Of lovers that are dead, and how In the grave all love shall sleep: Love is aweary now.
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside.
Tuesday—we had school for the first time. Madame O’Malley had a moment of silence at the beginning of French class, a class that was always punctuated with long moments of silence, and then asked us how we were feeling. “Awful,” a girl said. “En français,” Madame O’Malley replied. “En français.
Students of reading, writing and common arithmetick . . . Graecian [Greek], Roman, English and American history . . . should be rendered . . . worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.
Imagine a world where children were fed tasty and nutritious, real food at school from the age of 4 to 18. A world where every child was educated about how amazing food is, where it comes from, how it affects the body and how it can save their lives.
Ordinary people simply don't know what books mean to us, shut up here. Reading, learning, and the radio are our amusements.
Your understanding of what you read and hear is, to a very large degree, determined by your vocabulary, so improve your vocabulary daily.
There are so many kids in this country growing up in poverty, facing very, very hard challenges... We need resilience for all of them.
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