She felt that she would have to be much more than just a doctor or an engineer. She would have to be a saint.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for individuals to embody higher ideals beyond their professional roles.
Flannery O'Connor's quote reflects the understanding that certain professions, like being a doctor or engineer, carry significant moral and ethical responsibilities. It suggests that truly excelling in such roles requires a compassionate and selfless nature, akin to that of a saint, indicating the importance of integrity and empathy in one's work.
In practice
During a graduation speech to inspire students entering the medical field.
Let me make no bones about it: I write from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. Nothing is more repulsive to me than the idea of myself setting up a little universe of my own choosing and propounding a little immoralistic message. I write with a solid belief in all the Christian dogmas.
What people donβt realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
If you live today, you breath in nihilism ... it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.
There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.
Knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you are
He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery.
You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the most difficult task in the world, for opening the door to your own life is, in the end, more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe.
Being nice doesnβt make you stupid. It makes you feel good because you know you are gracious enough to forgive and smart enough to realize how distasteful some people can be.
I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.
Small things start us in new ways of thinking
Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do.
One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.
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