If you had your way you’d pass a law to abolish all the little jobs, the little things. But then you’d leave yourselves nothing to do between the big jobs and you’d have a devil of a time thinking up things to do so you wouldn’t go crazy. Instead of that, why not let nature show you a few things? Cutting grass and pulling weeds can be a way of life, son.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of small tasks in life, suggesting that they provide purpose and balance between larger pursuits.
Ray Bradbury's quote reflects on the value of engaging in small, everyday tasks like cutting grass and pulling weeds, proposing that these seemingly trivial activities fill the gaps between more significant endeavors. He highlights that without these little jobs, life may feel unbalanced, and people might struggle with a sense of purpose, as the mundane tasks can bring tranquility and connection to nature. Instead of seeking to eliminate them, we should embrace these activities as integral to a fulfilling life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about finding joy in everyday tasks.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness. That is, when we are in the presence of God, we are humbled and become most aware of ourselves as creatures. This is the opposite of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be as gods.
The final test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.
Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat.
Everything is autobiography, even if one writes something that is totally objective. The fact that it's a subject that seizes you makes it autobiographical.
Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.
God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
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