That is all the National Parks are about. Use, but do no harm.
Wallace StegnerRead
Hope was always out ahead of fact, possibility obscured the outlines of reality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hope allows us to envision a better future, even when reality presents obstacles.
This quote by Wallace Stegner reflects the idea that hope often exists in a realm beyond tangible evidence or current circumstances. It emphasizes how our aspirations and ideals can sometimes be clouded by the harshness of reality, suggesting that while facts may ground us, it is hope that fuels our pursuit of possibility and change in our lives.
Themes
HopeRealityPossibilityWisdomFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the importance of resilience in the face of adversity.
More from Wallace Stegner
All quotes βTouch. It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others ... an accidental brushing of shoulders or touching of hands ... hands laid on shoulders in a gesture of comfort that lies like a thief, that takes, not gives, that wants, not offers, that awakes, not pacifies. When one flesh is waiting, there is electricity in the merest contact.
Wallace StegnerRead
Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.
Wallace StegnerRead
I was shaped by the west and have lived most of my life in it, and nothing would gratify me more than to see it in all its subregions and subcultures both prosperous and environmentally healthy, with a civilization to match its scenery.
Wallace StegnerRead
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.
Wallace StegnerRead
No place is a place until things that have happened in it are remembered in history, ballads, yarns, legends, or monuments. Fictions serve as well as facts.
Wallace StegnerRead
Similar quotes
Magic enables man to carry out with confidence his important tasks, to maintain his poise and his mental integrity in fits of anger, in the throes of hate, of unrequited love, of despair and anxiety. The function of magic is to ritualize man's optimism, to enhance his faith in the victory of hope over fear. Magic expresses the greater value for man of confidence over doubt, of steadfastness over vacillation, of optimism over pessimism.
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Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?
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The idea that to make a man work you've got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We've done that for so long that we've forgotten there's any other way.
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There is nothing so good for the human soul as the discovery that there are ancient and flourishing civilized societies which have somehow managed to exist for many centuries and are still in being though they have had no help from the traveler in solving their problems.
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There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.
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Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading.
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