I will rejoice the day when they say: This is right whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may. Either practice restraint or be prepared for crowding.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the need for balance and restraint in society to avoid chaos and conflict.
Flannery O'Connor's quote examines the paradox of human existence and societal behavior, suggesting that the choices we make regarding restraint directly impact the quality of our communal life. By acknowledging the potential for crowding and the need for self-discipline, O'Connor emphasizes that our actions determine whether we live harmoniously or face inevitable chaos.
In practice
In a public speech about the importance of community, one might say, 'As Flannery O'Connor suggested, we must practice restraint or prepare for crowding.'
Let me make no bones about it: I write from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. Nothing is more repulsive to me than the idea of myself setting up a little universe of my own choosing and propounding a little immoralistic message. I write with a solid belief in all the Christian dogmas.
What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
If you live today, you breath in nihilism ... it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.
There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.
Knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you are
He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery.
Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
I'd rather there wasn't an afterlife, really. I'd much rather not be me for thousands of years.
Let no act be done without purpose.
To know oneself is to study oneself in action, which is relationship.
They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below. But in this country, it's upside down.
O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere.
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