The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.
A. S. ByattRead
The true exercise of freedom is - cannily and wisely and with grace - to move inside what space confines - and not seek to know what lies beyond and cannot be touched or tasted.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True freedom is about wisely navigating our limitations rather than striving for the unattainable.
In this quote, A. S. Byatt suggests that genuine freedom does not stem from an incessant desire to understand or reach beyond our physical and experiential limitations. Instead, it is found in the ability to maneuver gracefully within these confines, accepting rather than resisting what we cannot touch or taste. This perspective encourages us to appreciate the richness of our current experiences rather than seeking unattainable knowledge or realities.
Themes
FreedomLimitationsWisdomExperiencePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire a discussion on the nature of freedom at a philosophy club meeting.
More from A. S. Byatt
All quotes βIt's because I'm a feminist that I can't stand women limiting other women's imaginations. It really makes me angry.
A. S. ByattRead
Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.
A. S. ByattRead
Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.
A. S. ByattRead
Only write to me, write to me, I love to see the hop and skip and sudden starts of your ink.
A. S. ByattRead
I am a creature of my pen. My pen is the best of me.
A. S. ByattRead
Similar quotes
Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.
John Stuart MillRead
The success or failure of any historical age is the extent to which those living at that time have fulfilled the special role that history has imposed upon them.
Thomas BerryRead
There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.
Alan WattsRead
The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
People who are comfortable with very clear boundaries and group definitions don't like the instability and ambiguity of people who say they are more advanced Christians, or they don't have to do what the bishop says.
Elaine PagelsRead
Every nation has the right to demand proper treatment and no country should violate the territory of any other country.
Mustafa Kemal AtaturkRead