Novelists don't age as quickly as philosophers, who often face professional senility in their late twenties.
Interpretation
Novelists have a longer creative lifespan than philosophers, who often peak early in their careers.
This quote suggests that novelists can continue to evolve and grow creatively over time, while philosophers may reach a point of diminishing returns in their intellectual output at a younger age. It reflects on the different nature of creativity in literature compared to philosophy, where the intense contemplation and theoretical insights required might lead to intellectual stagnation sooner.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the evolving nature of storytelling, this quote can highlight the longevity of a novelist's creativity.
Oh Christ, the exhaustion of not knowing anything. It's so tiring and hard on the nerves. It really takes it out of you, not knowing anything. You're given comedy and miss all the jokes. Every hour you get weaker. Sometimes, as I sit alone in my flat in London and stare at the window, I think how dismal it is, how heavy, to watch the rain and not know why it falls.
Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark - spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It's passing, yet I'm the one who's doing all the moving.
You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other's otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full *contact* - all that?
All my adult life I have been searching for the right adjective to describe my father's peculiarly aggressive comic style. I recently settled on 'defamatory.'
Love is an abstract noun, something nebulous. And yet love turns out to be the only part of us that is solid, as the world turns upside down and the screen goes black.
Jane was my wicked stepmother: she was generous, affectionate and resourceful; she salvaged my schooling and I owe her an unknowable debt for that. One flaw: sometimes, early on, she would tell me things designed to make me think less of my mother, and I would wave her away, saying, Jane, this just backfires and makes me think less of you.
If you think you're free, there's no escape possible.
The moon of Mahomet Arose, and it shall set; While, blazoned as on heaven's immortal noon, The cross leads generations on.
Que sçais-je?" (What do I know?)
There is a universal reality in ourselves that aligns us with a universal reality that is everywhere.
Understand that we are all co-creators of our respective destinies.
The superiority of one man's opinion over another's is never so great as when the opinion is about a woman.
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