The idea of some people being less than people is poison to any society and needs to be named as such in order to halt its spread before it turns the soul of a society septic.
Richard FlanaganRead
In reading, you sense the divine: the things that are larger and greater and more mysterious than yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading allows you to connect with profound ideas that transcend your own existence.
This quote reflects the transformative power of reading, suggesting that through literature, one can encounter concepts and experiences that are immense, intricate, and far beyond personal understanding. It emphasizes how engaging with written works can lead to a deeper awareness of existence and the universe's mysteries.
Themes
ReadingDivineMysteryLiteratureExistence
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club meeting to discuss the deeper themes of a novel.
More from Richard Flanagan
All quotes βI never know what I am writing. The moment you know what you're writing, you're writing nothing worth reading.
Richard FlanaganRead
My father was a Japanese prisoner of war, a survivor of the Thai-Burma Death Railway, built by a quarter of a million slave labourers in 1943. Between 100,000 and 200,000 died.
Richard FlanaganRead
If 30 Australians drowned in Sydney Harbour, it would be a national tragedy. But when 30 or more refugees drown off the Australian coast, it is a political question.
Richard FlanaganRead
Is it easier for a man to live his life again as a fish, than to accept the wonder of being human? So alone, so frightened, so wanting for what we are afraid to give tongue to.
Richard FlanaganRead
I do not share the pessimism of the age about the novel. They are one of our greatest spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual inventions. As a species it is story that distinguishes us, and one of the supreme expressions of story is the novel. Novels are not content. Nor are they are a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life. Novels are life, or they are nothing.
Richard FlanaganRead
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