"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
This quote by Rebecca Makkai highlights the idea that despite our individual circumstances or hardships (being "in the gutter"), there is a diverse range of responses to adversity. Some people choose to focus on the challenges and difficulties, remaining stuck in their current situation. However, others maintain an optimistic outlook, looking beyond their immediate surroundings towards loftier aspirations and goals ("looking at the stars"). Essentially, it suggests that even amidst hardship, one can aspire for greatness or hopefulness.
"The real world is always a surprise and often a disappointment, but writing has taught me to expect miracles."
This quote suggests that while the real world may disappoint due to its unpredictability and imperfections, writing offers a unique perspective to anticipate positive outcomes or "miracles." Writing can help one cultivate hope, resilience, and imagination in the face of adversity, fostering an optimistic approach towards life's challenges.
"In order to believe that love will last forever, it is necessary to forget that ice melts, flowers wilt, and bones crumble."
This quote implies that sustaining faith in enduring love requires a certain level of naivete about the transience of life's beauty. In other words, we must choose to overlook or forget the natural decay of things like ice melting, flowers wilting, and bones crumbling, to maintain hope for an eternal connection with another person. It suggests that love can be a powerful force capable of overcoming the inevitability of change and decay in life.
"History is not destiny, but knowing history can help you avoid making the same mistakes over and over again."
This quote emphasizes that while history doesn't dictate our future (destiny), understanding it offers us a valuable perspective to learn from past events and avoid repeating similar errors. In essence, knowledge of history serves as a guide for making informed decisions in the present, helping shape a better future.
"The heart of a writer is a dark forest, but we carry a lantern."
This quote suggests that a writer's mind or creativity is like a deep, mysterious forest (a dark forest), filled with complex ideas, emotions, and unknown territories. The lantern symbolizes the writer's ability to illuminate these depths, to shed light on their thoughts and translate them into meaningful works through writing. It emphasizes the personal journey writers undertake, delving into their inner world and emerging with a narrative that can be shared with others.
Writing a short story is like painting a picture on the head of a pin. And just getting everything to fit is - sometimes seems impossible. Writing a novel, though, is - has its own challenges of scope. And I think of that as painting a mural, where the challenge is that if you are close enough to work on it, you're too close to see the whole thing.
- Rebecca Makkai
I grew up writing. It was very natural in my household. My father was a poet, and his mother had been a novelist back in Hungary. I don't think I really thought about it being my career until high school, which is still pretty early, but it was a while there of just assuming this was something everyone did all day long.
- Rebecca Makkai
I've only cried at one book, but I'm too embarrassed to tell you which. It wasn't terribly intellectual. I will admit, though, to crying when I've read books aloud to my elementary class. We read a biography of Gandhi once, and it was very difficult to read the part where Gandhi was killed, because they were waiting for a happy ending.
- Rebecca Makkai
I have the distinct feeling that when I'm old, and I look back on my life, my thirties will be one huge blur. There's a lot that gets neglected: exercise, dishes, laundry, my poor garden. I try to prioritize the important but non-urgent things over the unimportant but urgent things.
- Rebecca Makkai
My sister's a musician. Everyone else in our family, it's either academics or artists of one kind or another. And those are the people that I think I like to hang out with, too. I think, you know, they're always interesting; they lead interesting lives, and I think they're important for everyone to read about because everyone is an artist in a way.
- Rebecca Makkai
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