The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
That's why people take vacations. No to relax or find excitement or see new places. To escape the death that exists in routine things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People take vacations to break free from the monotony of their daily routines, which can feel lifeless.
In this quote, Don DeLillo suggests that the primary motivation behind taking vacations is not merely for relaxation, excitement, or exploration but rather as a means to escape the dullness and predictability that often accompany everyday life. The 'death' in routine signifies how repetitive tasks can drain vitality and lead to a sense of existential numbness, prompting individuals to seek brief respites in new environments or adventures.
Themes
VacationRoutineEscapeMonotonyLifeExcitement
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on work-life balance, one might quote this to emphasize the need for breaks.
More from Don Delillo
All quotes βWar is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
Don DelilloRead
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
Don DelilloRead
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
Don DelilloRead
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
Don DelilloRead
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. β¨He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way heβs carrying a gun. β¨This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
Don DelilloRead
Similar quotes
He felt as though his heart were a bomb, a complicated bomb that would result in a simple explosion, wrecking the world without rocking it.
Nathanael WestRead
The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.
Harlan F. StoneRead
Space ails us moderns: we are sick with space.
Robert FrostRead
Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted with antiquity?
William ShakespeareRead
I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.
George R. R. MartinRead
Time present and time past / are both perhaps present in time future.
T. S. EliotRead