I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can.
Jack GilbertRead
Being alive is so extraordinary I don’t know why people limit it to riches, pride, security—all of those things life is built on. People miss so much because they want money and comfort and pride, a house and a job to pay for the house. And they have to get a car. You can’t see anything from a car. It’s moving too fast. People take vacations. That’s their reward—the vacation. Why not the life?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's richness extends beyond material wealth, and many miss the beauty of everyday existence.
In this quote, Jack Gilbert emphasizes the extraordinary nature of life itself, arguing that people often confine their experiences and joys to material possessions and societal achievements. He suggests that the quest for money, comfort, and status distracts individuals from truly living and appreciating the world around them. By prioritizing tangible rewards over the experience of life, they overlook the profound richness and beauty that life offers in its most simple forms.
Themes
LifeExperienceWealthBeautyMindfulness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about living fully, you might say, 'As Jack Gilbert noted, being alive is extraordinary—let's not limit that experience to our possessions.'
More from Jack Gilbert
All quotes →But anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Like being there by that summer ocean on the other side of the island while love was fading out of her, the stars burning so extravagantly those nights that anyone could tell you they would never last.
Jack GilbertRead
Are the angels of her bed the angels who come near me alone in mine? Are the green trees in her window the color is see in ripe plums? If she always sees backward and upside down without knowing it what chance do we have? I am haunted by the feeling that she is saying melting lords of death, avalanches, rivers and moments of passing through, And I am replying, "Yes, yes. Shoes and pudding.
Jack GilbertRead
We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.
Jack GilbertRead
I like ornament at the right time, but I don't want a poem to be made out of decoration ... When I read the poems that matter to me, it stuns me how much the presence of the heart-in all its forms-is endlessly available there. To experience ourselves in an important way just knocks me out. It puzzles me why people have given that up for cleverness. Some of them are ingenious, more ingenious than I am, but so many of them aren't any good at being alive.
Jack GilbertRead
WAKING AT NIGHT The blue river is grey at morning and evening. There is twilight at dawn and dusk. I lie in the dark wondering if this quiet in me now is a beginning or an end.
Jack GilbertRead
Similar quotes
It is often said that New York is a city for only the very rich and the very poor. It is less often said that New York is also, at least for those of us who came there from somewhere else, a city for only the very young.
Joan DidionRead
Because reading is one of the joys of life, and once you begin, you can't stop, and you've got so many stories to look forward to.
Benedict CumberbatchRead
Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Where I grew up - I grew up on the north side of Akron, lived in the projects. So those scared and lonely nights - that's every night. You hear a lot of police sirens, you hear a lot of gunfire. Things that you don't want your kids to hear growing up.
Lebron JamesRead
Modern man is frantically trying to earn enough to buy things he's too busy to enjoy.
Frank A. ClarkRead
Wouldn't it be terrible if you'd spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn't want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you'd say 'Oh my god, I could have got so drunk last night!' That's the way you should live your life, as if tomorrow you'll be run over by a big red bus.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen MotherRead