No one's ever dared come out and say it before, but there's not a man among us that doesn't think it, that doesn't feel just as you do about her and the whole business - feel it somewhere down deep in his scared little soul.
Ken KeseyRead
But I remember one thing:_x000D_ _x000D_ it wasn't me that started acting deaf;_x000D_ _x000D_ it was people that first started acting like_x000D_ _x000D_ I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the disconnect between individuals and the misunderstandings that can arise in communication.
In this quote, Ken Kesey conveys a feeling of frustration regarding interpersonal communication. He reflects on how people's actions can create barriers, leading to a situation where he feels unheard and invalidated. This emphasizes the importance of mutual understanding and attention in relationships, suggesting that often it's not a lack of perception on one side, but rather a failure of the other to acknowledge and engage meaningfully.
Themes
CommunicationUnderstandingRelationshipsDisconnectPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on effective communication, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of actively listening to others.
More from Ken Kesey
All quotes →His whole body shakes with the strain as he tries to lift something he knows he can't lift, something everybody knows he can't lift. But, for just a second, when we hear the cement grind at our feet, we think, by golly, he might do it.
Ken KeseyRead
You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.
Ken KeseyRead
The job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
Ken KeseyRead
If this glorious birth to death hassle is the only hassle we are ever to have ..if our grand exhilarating fight of life is such a tragically short little scrap anyway,compared to the eons of rounds before and after-then why should one want to relinquish even a few precious seconds of it?
Ken KeseyRead
He was in his chair in the corner, resting a second before he came out for the next round -- in a long line of next rounds. The thing he was fighting, you couldn't whip it for good. All you could do was keep on whipping it, till you couldn't come out anymore and somebody else had to take your place.
Ken KeseyRead
Similar quotes
I certainly should have,' he agrees, smiling and thinking what an absurd and universally-accepted bit of nonsense it is, that your best friends must necessarily be the ones who best understand you. As if there weren't far too much understanding in the world already; above all, that understanding between lovers, celebrated in song and story, which is actually such torture that no two of them can bear it without frequent separations or fights.
Christopher IsherwoodRead
In America one drop of black ancestry makes you black. In Brazil, it's almost as if one drop of white ancestry makes you white.
Henry Louis GatesRead
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.
Khalil GibranRead
The trouble with me is that for a long time I have just been an I person. All people belong to a We except me. Not to belong to a We makes you too lonesome.
Carson MccullersRead
Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
Dale CarnegieRead
Everybody I interacted with in my life, directly or indirectly, has placed a fingerprint upon my life. That combination has made me who I am.
Malcolm JenkinsRead