Tall, aren't you?" she said. "I didn't mean to be." Her eyes rounded. She was puzzled. She was thinking. I could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother to her.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the complexity of self-perception and the burdens of thought.
In this quote, the dialogue captures a moment of unexpected self-awareness triggered by an observation. The protagonist acknowledges their height, yet dismisses it as unintentional, revealing a larger theme about how perceptions can both define and confuse our identity. The mention of 'thinking' as a bother suggests that deeper contemplation can be both enlightening and burdensome, making it a philosophical meditation on self-identity and the nature of awareness.
In practice
This quote can be used as a reflection in a talk about the complexities of self-identity.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
We have all been hearing from childhood of such things as love, peace, charity, equality, and universal brotherhood; but they have become to us mere words without meaning, words which we repeat like parrots, and it has become quite natural for us to do so. We cannot help it.
We always strive after what is forbidden, and desire the things refused us.
We forget that the world is what we imagine it to be. We stop being the sun and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it.
The key fallacy of so called gun control laws is that such laws do not in fact control guns. They simply disarm law abiding citizens, while people bent on violence find firearms readily available.
Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.
Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.
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