In apartments and cottages, on the street and in the train... I listen... More and more, I turn into one large ear, always turning to another person.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
The subjects I wanted to write about - the mystery of the human soul, evil - didn't interest newspapers, and news reporting bored me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a disconnect between deeper human experiences and superficial news reporting.
In this quote, Svetlana Alexievich expresses her frustration with traditional journalism, highlighting that the profound themes of the human soul and the nature of evil hold more importance for her than the mundane stories often covered by newspapers. This suggests a yearning for deeper understanding and exploration of what it means to be human, rather than merely reporting the everyday events that may lack significant emotional or philosophical weight.
Themes
Human SoulEvilJournalismPhilosophyReporting
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class discussing the deep themes of writing, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of exploring profound human experiences.
More from Svetlana Alexievich
All quotes β'Women's' war has its own colors, its own smells, its own lighting, and its own range of feelings. There are no heroes and incredible feats; there are simply people who are busy doing inhumanly human things.
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There is no need to give in to the compromise that totalitarian regimes always count on.
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I've been searching for a genre that would be most adequate to my vision of the world to convey how my ear hears and my eyes see life. I tried this and that, and finally, I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves. But I don't just record a dry history of events and facts; I'm writing a history of human feelings.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
From the point of view of art, the butcher and the victim are equal as people. You need to see the people.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Nothing, not even human life, is more precious to us than our myths about ourselves.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Similar quotes
A wide and vague impression exists that so-called Eastern religion is more contemplative, innocuous, and humane than the proselytizing monotheisms of the West. Don't believe a word of this: try asking the children of Indochina who were dumped by their parents for inherited deformities that were attributed to sins in a previous 'life.
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The true past departs not, no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die; but all is still here, and, recognized or not, lives and works through endless change.
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The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first.
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I ask why your Omnipotent God does not hold a man back when he is about to commit a sin or offence. It is childβs play for God. Why did He not kill war lords? Why did He not remove the fury of war from their minds? In this way God could have saved humanity from great calamity and horror.
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I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.
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Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing.... We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God; we must let God search and encounter us.
Pope FrancisRead