The special virtue of freedom is not that it makes you richer and more powerful but that it gives you more time to understand what it means to be alive.
Adam GopnikRead
The future will be like the past, in the sense that, no matter how amazing or technologically advanced a society becomes, the basic human rhythm of petty malevolence, sordid moneygrubbing, and official violence, illuminated by occasional bursts of loyalty or desire or tenderness, will go on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
No matter how advanced society becomes, basic human flaws and emotions will persist.
This quote reflects on the unchanging nature of humanity despite progress in technology and society. It highlights that while the external world may evolve and improve, the inherent qualities of human behavior—such as selfishness, greed, and violence—will continue to exist, occasionally countered by moments of love and kindness. This juxtaposition suggests a cyclical pattern of human experience that remains constant over time.
Themes
Human NatureSocietyTechnologyBehaviorEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about the impact of technology on society.
More from Adam Gopnik
All quotes →The past is so often unknowable not because it is befogged now but because it was befogged then, too, back when it was still the present. If we had been there listening, we still might not have been able to determine exactly what Stanton said. All we know for sure is that everyone was weeping, and the room was full.
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Protein was the most valued ingredient 250 years ago: It was the rarest thing. Now the rarest thing we have is time: time to cook and time to eat.
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Love, like light, is a thing that is enacted better than defined: we know it afterward by the traces it leaves on paper.
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