Dreams are shores where the ocean of spirit meets the land of matter. Dreams are beaches where the yet-to-be, the once-were, the will-never-be may walk awhile with the still-are.
David MitchellRead
Human beings need to watch out for reasonless niceness too. It's never reasonless and its reason's not usually nice.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns against being overly nice for no apparent reason, as such behavior often hides ulterior motives.
David Mitchell's quote suggests that an undue display of kindness often comes with underlying intentions that may not be wholesome. It highlights the importance of being aware of social interactions where 'reasonless niceness' exists, implying that genuine generosity is straightforward while manipulative behaviors are veiled behind a facade of kindness.
Themes
KindnessRelationshipsUlterior MotivesManipulationAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a workshop on building healthier relationships.
More from David Mitchell
All quotes →The Revelation of Sonmi 451 To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. - Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
David MitchellRead
…and there, in the background, the sky’s sediment had sunk to a place where all the woe of the words ‘I am’ dissolved into blue peace. He said it. ‘The ocean.
David MitchellRead
How vulgar, this hankering after immortality, how vain, how false. Composers are merely scribblers of cave paintings. One writes music because winter is eternal and because, if one didn't, the wolves and blizzards would be at one's throat all the sooner.
David MitchellRead
. . .my dreams are the single unpredictable factor in my zoned days and nights. Nobody allots them, or censors them. Dreams are all I have ever truly owned.
David MitchellRead
My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?
David MitchellRead
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