Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.
Richard WrightRead
It made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense of wonder and awe in the face of the drama of human feeling which is hidden by the external drama of life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a fascination with deep, existential questions that evoke a sense of wonder, transcending the superficial aspects of everyday life.
In this quote, Richard Wright expresses a profound appreciation for conversations that explore the complex and often hidden emotions that define the human experience. He suggests that such dialogues, rather than serving practical purposes, nurture a sense of awe in confronting the intricacies of human feelings, which often get overshadowed by the more mundane, external events of life.
Themes
WonderHuman FeelingsExistential QuestionsPhilosophyAwe
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on the nature of love in a philosophy class.
More from Richard Wright
All quotes →It had been only through books-at best, no more than vicarious cultural transfusions-that I had managaed to keep myself alive in a negatively vital way. Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.
Richard WrightRead
I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it
Richard WrightRead
Hunger has always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at my gauntly.
Richard WrightRead
He had lived and acted on the assumption that he was alone, and now he saw that he had not been. What he had done made others suffer. No matter how much he would long for them to forget him, they would not be able to. His family was a part of him, not only in blood, but in spirit.
Richard WrightRead
I listened, vaguely knowing now that I had committed some awful wrong that I could not undo, that I had uttered words I could not recall even though I ached to nullify them, kill them, turn back time to the moment before I had talked so that I could have another chance to save myself.
Richard WrightRead
Similar quotes
Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.
Eckhart TolleRead
For most people, there are only two places in the world. Where they live and their TV set. If a thing happens on television, we have every right to find it fascinating, whatever it is.
Don DelilloRead
And no, it wasn't shame I now felt, or guilt, but something rarer in my life and stronger than both: remorse. A feeling which is more complicated, curdled, and primeval. Whose chief characteristic is that nothing can be done about it: too much time has passed, too much damage has been done, for amends to be made.
Julian BarnesRead
Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature: What will happen next?
Karen Thompson WalkerRead
In great countries, children are always trying to remain children, and the parents want to make them into adults. In vile countries, the children are always wanting to be adults and the parents want to keep them children.
John RuskinRead
Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collapse.
Kurt EisnerRead