Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph EllisonRead
There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sleepwalkers represent those who go through life without awareness or consciousness, which can lead to danger.
Ralph Ellison's quote highlights the peril of individuals who navigate life without being fully awake or aware of their surroundings, comparing them to sleepwalkers who are unaware of their actions. This metaphor suggests that a lack of consciousness and intention can lead to potentially hazardous situations not only for the individuals themselves but also for those around them.
Themes
AwarenessConsciousnessDangerLifeIntent
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about the importance of living mindfully.
More from Ralph Ellison
All quotes βI am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
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I denounce because though implicated and partially responsible, I have been hurt to the point of abysmal pain, hurt to the point of invisibility. And I defend because in spite of it all, I find that I love.
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The blues is an art of ambiguity, an assertion of the irrepressibly human over all circumstance whether created by others or by one's own human failings. They are the only consistent art in the United States which constantly remind us of our limitations while encouraging us to see how far we can actually go. When understood in their more profound implication, they are a corrective, an attempt to draw a line upon man's own limitless assertion.
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If you can show me how I can cling to that which is real to me, while teaching me a way into the larger society, then and only then will I drop my defenses and hostility, and I will sing your praises and help you to make the desert bear fruit.
Ralph EllisonRead
All novels are about certain minorities: the individual is a minority. The universal in the novel-and isn't that what we're all clamoring for these days?-is reached only through the depiction of the specific man in a specific circumstance.
Ralph EllisonRead
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