Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could also forget what had been done to it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the short-sightedness of American enterprise and its disregard for historical context.
In this quote, Barbara Kingsolver reflects on the arrogance and ignorance perceived in American enterprise, suggesting that a lack of awareness regarding the past leads to a failure to appreciate the significance of the present. By describing the nation as 'amnesiac,' she highlights the tendency to focus solely on immediate benefits while neglecting the historical consequences of actions taken against the land and its resources.
Themes
ArroganceIgnoranceHistoryEnterpriseAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about corporate responsibility, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of historical awareness in decision-making.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
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Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
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