Where you are born--what you are born into, the place, the history of the place, how that history mates with your own-- stamps who you are, whatever the pundits of globalisation have to say.
Interpretation
Our identity is shaped by our origins and the history of our environment.
This quote by Jeanette Winterson emphasizes the profound influence of our birthplace and the historical context in which we grow up on our personal identity. While globalization may promote the idea of a shared, universal experience, Winterson argues that our individual stories are indelibly marked by the specific places and histories we come from, reinforcing the importance of understanding our roots in shaping who we are.
In practice
In a speech about diversity and inclusion, you might say, 'As Jeanette Winterson wisely noted, our birthplace shapes who we are, reminding us to honor every individual's unique background.'
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter of common sense to recognize that the State, the community, the citizens acting together, can do a number of things better than if they were left to individual action.
And what do you wish?' he said at last. 'That what should be shall be,' she answered.
Are not there little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of the history?
To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman.
Peace will come With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall.
The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done.
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