The world doesn't need any more mediocrity or hedged bets.
Interpretation
This quote encourages individuals to strive for excellence rather than settling for mediocrity.
Anne Rice's quote emphasizes the importance of pursuing greatness and originality in one's endeavors. It suggests that the world is already saturated with mediocrity—average or half-hearted attempts—and calls for people to take bold actions, make commitments, and strive for outstanding achievements instead of playing it safe with hedged bets.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to inspire a group of entrepreneurs.
From my stone pillow I have dreamed dreams of the mortal world above. I have heard its voices, its new music, as lullabies as I lie in my grave. I have envisioned its fantastical discoveries. I have known its courage in the timeless sanctum of my thoughts. And though it shuts me out with its dazzling forms, I long for one with the strength to roam it fearlessly, to ride the Devil's Road through its heart.
We all suffer under a curse, the curse that we know more than we can endure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about the force and the lure of this knowledge.
And so this young one, this young one whom I had so loved, I had to forsake, no matter how broken my heart, no matter how lonely my soul, no matter how bruised my intellect and spirit.
Dear God, help me. Do not forget me on this tiny cinder lost in a galaxy that is lost–a heart no bigger than a speck of dust beating, beating against death, against meaninglessness, against guilt, against sorrow.
The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply.
In the very depths of Hell, do not demons love one another?
Once in a while you can run very fast, but you cannot always go to the maximum.
I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters, while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas. I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon's advice to take sales of £300 a week. Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.
With the right attitude, human beings can move mountains. With the wrong attitude, they can be crushed by the smallest grain of sand.
Understanding motivation is one of the most important things we can do in our lives, because it has such a bearing on why we do the things we do and whether we enjoy them or not.
May you find your Tower, Roland, and breach it, and may you climb to the top!
Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?
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