...I'll continue to see things as a child. It's not so far to fall.
Interpretation
Seeing the world with childlike wonder can make life feel less daunting.
Norton Juster's quote encourages maintaining a childlike perspective throughout life. This outlook fosters curiosity, wonder, and a lighthearted approach to challenges, suggesting that retaining this innocence allows one to navigate life with a sense of ease, as the potential for disappointment or heartache feels less severe.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing life, someone might say, 'As Norton Juster reminds us, I'll continue to see things as a child.'
When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd even bothered.
Sometimes I find the best way of getting from one place to another is simply to erase everything and begin again.
In this box are all the words I know⦠Most of them you will never need, some you will use constantly, but with them you may ask all the questions which have never been answered and answer all the questions which have never been asked. All the great books of the past and all the ones yet to come are made with these words. With them there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. All you must learn to do is use them well and in the right places.
There are no wrong roads to anywhere.
So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.
It is not indeed certain, that the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge of his own failing, or the most zealous benevolence reconcile him to that judgment by which they are detected; but he who endeavours only the happiness of him whom he reproves will always have either the satisfaction of obtaining or deserving kindness; if he succeeds, he benefits his friend; and if he fails, he has at least the consciousness that he suffers for only doing well.
The end of suffering happens in this very moment, whether you're watching a terrorist attack or doing the dishes. And compassion begins at home. Because I don't believe my thoughts, sadness can't exist. That's how I can go to the depths of anyone's suffering, if they invite me, and take them by the hand and walk them out of it into the sunlight of reality. I've taken that walk myself.
Humility is a flower which does not grow in everyone's garden.
No one is so miserable as the poor person who maintains the appearance of wealth.
The scholar does not consider gold and jade to be precious treasures, but loyalty and good faith.
You will never get any more out of this life than you expect.
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