With the first two weeks of school over and done with, many of us find ourselves diving headlong into thousands of words strung together for either telling a story or explaining to us the difference between kinetic and potential energy. Or where one could find, should she (or he) feel inclined, the remnants of an ancient civilization. As an English major, I find that much of the literature I have read for class contain little dollops of insight (or big dollops depending on the text). And here I have constructed a list of some of these little treasures.
8. "...one secret is liable to be revealed in the place of another that is harder to tell, and the substitute secret when nakedly exposed is often the more appalling.."--Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings
I only just finished this particular book for one of my classes, so it was hard to pick out a quote. This one in particular comes after Eudora tells us how she discovers a pair of nickles as a child and wants to claim them for herself, but her mother declines and tells her the "wrong secret" on page 17 of the book. The reason I picked this quote (and the ones to follow) is because there is a level of truth to it. No matter how big or small a secret is, it can come out in the place of another.
7. “Behind all seen things lies something vaster; everything is but a path, a portal or a window opening on something other than itself. ”―Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars
This quote comes from a book that was certainly interesting to read. There are many parts of it that speak worlds of truth, one such truth is the quote above. There's more to something than what you can see on the surface. Take a faded pair of stained blue jeans for example. They might look like they're falling apart, but at one point they traveled the world, fixed a car, and and hitch-hiked from a small Georgia town to somewhere in California. The adventure has yet to be seen.
6. "My one great feat in life, my fate, is to survive this thing and return triumphantly with my sister to our parents' house . My dream cannot be marred by German whips or chains or rules. I will succeed because I have no other choice"--Rena Kornreich Gelissen, Rena's Promise
When I read this book Spring semester of my Freshman year, I cried through half of it. But this novel has such a powerful narrative, it makes it nearly impossible to put down. And this particular quote, I believe, says something about being human--in any situation, keep going.
5. "...we never choose anything at all. Things happen. Or not.”--Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes
The book this quote comes from is a collection of short stories. I remember many of the stories left me stumped and I had to read them again. This quote comes from the first paragraph of the story "The Second Bakery Attack". A particularly interesting one in my opinion, but the truth in this quote is exactly as it says. Things do or do not happen. By coincidence or not, who knows.
4. "Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does."--Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiead
This book was assigned during the mythology class I took last year for comparisons to the other texts we were reading --The Penelopiad to The Odyssey. I didn't get to read this one, however, this quote about water was in the presentation the group assigned this book gave. And its truth is that one shouldn't give up simply because something is in their way.
3. "Be patient and tough; one day this pain will be useful to you.”―Ovid, Metamorphoses
I read this book in Mythology last year, and I think my favorite story in it was the one about King Midas. While this quote isn't from that story, it is an interesting one. I interpret this as saying that what's happening to you now, what you are experiencing, will make you stronger for when you most need it.
2. “Long ago in China, knot-makers tied string into buttons and frogs, and rope into bell pulls. There was one knot so complicated that it blinded the knot-maker. Finally an emperor outlawed this cruel knot, and the nobles could not order it anymore. If I had lived in China, I would have been an outlaw knot-maker.”--Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
I read this book back in my Comparative Literature class, and I'm supposed to read it again in another class this semester. But despite the number of times I read it, this quote is one of my favorites. I think it's because I'm actually a big chicken and the last line of the quote is inspiring. In any case, the truth is challenge what's normal or what society thinks you should do.
1. “Our view of reality is only a view, not reality itself.”--Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
This last quote, I think, speaks worlds of truth. And because the book itself contains so much insight, it was hard to choose just the one quote. But when you think about what Fadiman is saying, it's a good way to remember that what you see is not always the same as what someone else sees.
