I'll be darned!" said Douglas. "I never thought of that. That's brilliant! It's true. Old people never were children!" "And it's kind of sad," said Tom, sitting still."There's nothing we can do to help them.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the disconnect between the elderly and their past as children, highlighting a poignant truth about aging.
In this quote from Ray Bradbury, the conversation reveals a deep understanding of the human condition as individuals age. It emphasizes the notion that the elderly often lose touch with the carefree essence of childhood, leading to a melancholy realization for the younger character. This reflects on the sadness associated with growing up and the inevitable changes in perspective that come with age, thus prompting reflection on how we view and treat the elderly in society.
In practice
In a discussion about the aging population, one might say, 'As Ray Bradbury pointed out, old people never were children, and it's kind of sad.'
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
There's a metaphor Vincent Eades likes to use: "If you examine a butterfly according to the laws of aerodynamics, it shouldn't be able to fly. But the butterfly doesn't know that, so it flies.
Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing.
When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Eternity is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality.
Our epoch is a time of tragic collision between matter and spirit and of the downfall of the purely material world view.
I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it.
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