In novels, and American novels in particular, it's not just about redemption, it's about forward movement and healing oneself. Americans are very big on getting better.
Hanya YanagiharaRead
It's a funny thing about cities: Some have brief, bright moments of cultural and political dominance, decades- or centuries-long spells when they seem the center of their particular nation, or region, or empire... only to later fall into obscurity and disrepair, never to regain their former glory.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cities experience fleeting periods of prominence before fading into obscurity.
Hanya Yanagihara's quote reflects on the transient nature of cities and their cultural significance. It suggests that even great centers of power and influence can lose their prominence over time, becoming mere shadows of their former glory, which serves as a reminder of the impermanence of achievement and recognition in human history.
Themes
CitiesCultural DominanceObscurityImpermanenceHistory
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about urban development, one might say, 'It's a funny thing about cities, as Yanagihara notes, they can rise and fall in prominence.'
More from Hanya Yanagihara
All quotes →Similar quotes
Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
Denis DiderotRead
But that is the thing about miracles: it is perception that determines them as such, not facts.
Camilla GibbRead
Unless you have found something in life to live for that is more important to you than your own life, you will always be a slave. For all another man needs to do is threaten to take your life to get you to do his bidding.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
Superstitions, bigotries, hypocrisies, prejudices, these phantoms, phantoms though they be, cling to life; they have teeth and nails in their shadowy substance, and we must grapple with them individually and make war on them without truce; for it is one of humanity's inevitabilities to be condemned to eternal struggle with phantoms.
Victor HugoRead
One of the amazing things about Spider-Man is that you don’t see skin colour when he’s in the suit. You don’t see any religious beliefs. A hero is a hero, whether you’re a man, woman, gay, lesbian, straight, black, white or red all over ― it doesn’t matter.
Andrew GarfieldRead
It is so many years before one can believe enough in what one feels even to know what the feeling is
William Butler YeatsRead