The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning
Anne TylerRead
I mean you're given all these lessons for the unimportant things--piano-playing, typing. You're given years and years of lessons in how to balance equations, which Lord knows you will never have to do in normal life. But how about parenthood? Or marriage, either, come to think of it. Before you can drive a car you need a state-approved course of instruction, but driving a car is nothing, nothing, compared to living day in and day out with a husband and raising up a new human being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that while we receive extensive instruction for trivial skills, we lack adequate preparation for significant life roles like parenthood and marriage.
Anne Tyler's quote reflects on the societal irony of how education often prioritizes skills deemed unimportant in daily life over the meaningful but challenging experiences of parenthood and marriage. It suggests that, despite the complexity and emotional depth of these roles, society provides little guidance or training for them, contrasting this with the rigorous training required for driving a car, which is a relatively simple task compared to managing a family and maintaining a marriage.
Themes
ParenthoodMarriageLife LessonsEducationRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a parenting workshop to highlight the lack of preparation many feel for raising children.
More from Anne Tyler
All quotes →I don't know what takes more courage: surviving a lifelong endurance test because you once made a promise or breaking free, disrupting all your world.
Anne TylerRead
I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns
Anne TylerRead
I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.
Anne TylerRead
It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.
Anne TylerRead
And she thought what a clean, simple life she would have led if it weren't for love.
Anne TylerRead
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