The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape
Thornton WilderRead
The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself "Oh now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home. And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adventures often bring challenges and discomfort, making us long for comfort, but true fulfillment comes from embracing those challenges.
Thornton Wilder conveys that the essence of an adventure is marked by the struggle and the chaos it brings, which can make us yearn for the simplicity and safety of home. However, if you find yourself desiring the comfort of home over seeking out new adventures, it reflects a deeper unhappiness or dissatisfaction with life, indicating that embracing adventure is essential for a fulfilling existence.
Themes
AdventureDiscomfortHomeLongingFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing new experiences.
More from Thornton Wilder
All quotes →A man looks pretty small at a wedding, George. All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way.
Thornton WilderRead
Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
Thornton WilderRead
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
Thornton WilderRead
Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.
Thornton WilderRead
I want you to try and remember what it was like to have been very young. And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you. You’re just a little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?
Thornton WilderRead
Similar quotes
The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
For us the mountains had been a natural field of activity where, playing on the frontiers of life and death, we had found the freedom for which we were blindly groping and which was as necessary to us as bread.
Maurice HerzogRead
Adventure is something out of the usual pattern, a point at which you cannot avoid confronting the unknown, so that you have to dig inside yourself to find the courage and resources to deal with what may lie ahead, and to succeed.
Bertrand PiccardRead
I resolved to abandon trade and to fix my aim on something more praiseworthy and stable; whence it was that I made preparation for going to see part of the world and its wonders.
Amerigo VespucciRead
To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure.
Freya StarkRead
Let your walks now be a little more adventurous.
Henry David ThoreauRead