To narrate is to give oneself: it seems obvious that literature, as an effort to communicate fully, will continue to be blocked so long as misery and illiteracy exist, and so long as the possessors of power continue to carry on with impunity their policy of collective imbecilization through the mass media.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that storytelling and literature are essential for genuine communication, hindered by societal issues like misery and illiteracy.
Eduardo Galeano's quote reflects on the inherent connection between storytelling and the human experience. He suggests that literature serves as a vital means of expression and communication, but its potential is undermined by factors such as poverty, lack of education, and the power structures that perpetuate ignorance through media manipulation. The statement calls for awareness of these societal challenges that inhibit true narrative and understanding.
In practice
During a speech advocating for literacy programs, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of education.
Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.
It is highly improbable that the bureaucrat will put his life on the line. It is absolutely impossible that he'll put his job on the line.
We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like money, improves people.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.
Each soul is a star and all stars are set in the infinite azure, the eternal sky-the Lord.
Ironically, the very fact that democracy has such a lengthy history has actually contributed to confusion and disagreement, for 'democracy' has meant different things to different people at different times and places.
Perhaps you know some well-off families who do not seem to suffer from their riches. They do not overeat themselves; they find occupations to keep themselves in health; they do not worry about their position; they put their money into safe investments and are content with a low rate of interest; and they bring up their children to live simply and do useful work. But this means that they do not live like rich people at all, and might therefore just as well have ordinary incomes.
The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective.
Being an Indian means living with the land. And the only way we'll be able to do that is to gain our freedom.
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