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Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.
E. B. White
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the balance between enjoying life and taking action to improve the world.

E. B. White reflects on the internal conflict faced each day: the desire to help the world versus the need to appreciate life's simple pleasures. He suggests that savoring the world is fundamental, implying that true motivation for change comes from a deep appreciation of life itself.

Themes

SavorWorldBalanceLifeAppreciationAction

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about environmental conservation, one could quote this to highlight the importance of both enjoying nature and protecting it.

More from E. B. White

It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
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It isn't silence you can cut with a knife any more, it's interchange of ideas. Intelligent discussion of practically everything is what is breaking up modern marriage.
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The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.
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A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
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A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.
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All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation-it is the Self-escaping into the open.
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