It is youth’s felicity as well as its insufficiency that it can never live in the present, but must always be measuring up the day against its own radiantly imagined future
Interpretation
Youth is characterized by an inability to fully appreciate the present while constantly measuring it against a brighter future.
This quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the nature of youth, suggesting that young people often find themselves caught between the joy of their current experiences and the aspirations they have for a better future. The phrase 'youth’s felicity and its insufficiency' captures the paradox of youth: while they are filled with hope and vibrant dreams, they struggle to find contentment in the here and now, often leading to a sense of dissatisfaction with the present.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about embracing the present moment during a graduation ceremony.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Life is so short. I would rather sing one song than interpret the thousand.
We both grew up in the atmosphere of struggle, both Ossie and me, ... I come out of Harlem and Harlem comes out of me - wailing police sirens and street parties, rumors and landlords, that cultural, spiritual scene. And Ossie came up from the South, where struggle and dying were part of everyday life. That is who we are.
Yes, you live with your feet in the mud and there's no time to be thinking about how you got in or how you're going to get out.
We are not long-term beings. Not heroes of romances in many volumes. For one gesture, for one word alone, we shall make the effort. We openly admit: our creations will be temporary. We shall have this as our aim: a gesture.
I have different hats; I'm a mother, I'm a woman, I'm a human being, I'm an artist and hopefully I'm an advocate. All of those plates are things I spin all the time.
It's important to have as much fun as possible while we're here. It balances out the times when the minefield of life explodes.
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