We wait till now? Now, when we're old men, we get to be brave?
Ernest GainesRead
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights society's discomfort with same-sex affection compared to violence.
Ernest Gaines's quote prompts a reflection on societal norms and values, suggesting that cultural attitudes can skew our perceptions of acceptable behavior. The comparison between two men holding guns and holding hands serves to critique the acceptance of violence over love, pointing out the problematic nature of a culture that glorifies aggression but shuns vulnerability and affection.
Themes
CultureLoveViolenceAcceptanceSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the importance of acceptance, this quote can show the stark contrast between societal norms.
More from Ernest Gaines
All quotes βI was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes, cooked our food, she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.
Ernest GainesRead
...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
Ernest GainesRead
Everything's been said, but it needs saying again.
Ernest GainesRead
Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.
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The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.
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Similar quotes
Am I a pessimist? Not at all. I am convinced that the history of the human race, no matter how tragic, will ultimately lead to the Kingdom of God. I am convinced that all the works of humankind will be reintegrated in the work of God, and that each of us, no matter how sinful, will ultimately be saved.
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Know what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of Baptism; it is to believe in belief; it is to be so little that elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child had its fairy godmother in its soul.
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The usefulness of religion - the fact that it gives life meaning, that it makes people feel good - is not an argument for the truth of any religious doctrine. It's not an argument that it's reasonable to believe that Jesus really was born of a virgin or that the Bible is the perfect word of the creator of the universe.
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As in everything else, I must start with myself. That is: in all circumstances try to be decent, just, tolerant, and understanding, and at the same time try to resist corruption and deception. In other words, I must do my utmost to act in harmony with my conscience and my better self.
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Where no bondage is, there is no cause and effect.
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Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms?
William JamesRead