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Whether talking about addiction, taxation [on cigarettes] or education [about smoking], there is always at the center of the conversation an essential conundrum: How come we're selling this deadly stuff anyway?
Anna Quindlen
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote questions the rationale behind the sale of harmful products like cigarettes, despite understanding their dangers.

Anna Quindlen's quote highlights the paradox in society's acceptance of products that are known to cause harm, such as cigarettes. It draws attention to the ongoing debate about addiction, taxation, and education surrounding smoking, suggesting that the root issue lies in the fundamental question of why society continues to sell such dangerous items, despite their adverse effects on health and well-being.

Themes

AddictionCigarettesHealthTaxationEducation

In practice

Example use cases

During a public health seminar discussing the impacts of smoking.

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The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.
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I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.
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Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them.
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I conveniently forgot to remember that people only have two hands, or, as another parent once said of having a third child, it's time for a zone defense instead of man-to-man.
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