The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons -- it was systemic and it was complete.
Gary ShteyngartRead
I love librarians more than any other people in the world. When I was an immigrant kid, they’ve made me feel like a human being and they gave me books that taught me English.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses deep appreciation for librarians and their significant role in personal education and empowerment.
In this quote, Gary Shteyngart reflects on the transformative influence librarians had on him during his childhood as an immigrant. They not only provided him with the books that were crucial for learning English but also made him feel valued and human, illustrating the profound impact that access to knowledge and support can have on an individual's life.
Themes
LibrariansBooksEducationImmigrantLearningEnglish
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of education, you could quote this to emphasize the role of libraries.
More from Gary Shteyngart
All quotes →My hair would continue to gray, and then one day, it would fall out entirely, and then, on a day meaninglessly close to the present one, meaninglessly like the present one, I would disappear from the earth. And all these emotions, all these yearnings, all these data, if that helps to clinch the enormity of what I'm talking about, would be gone. And that's what immortality means. It means selfishness. My generations belief that each one of us matters more than you or anyone else would think.
Gary ShteyngartRead
In contravention of my belief that any life ending in death is essentially pointless, I needed my friends to open up that plastic bag and take one last look at me. Someone had to remember me, if only for a few more minutes in the vast silent waiting room of time.
Gary ShteyngartRead
That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention; they make you confuse attention for mercy.
Gary ShteyngartRead
When civilization takes a nose dive, how can you look away? You've got to be there. You've got to be at the bottom of the swimming pool taking notes.
Gary ShteyngartRead
Every returning New Yorker asks the question: Is this still my city? I have a ready answer, cloaked in obstinate despair: It is. And if it's not, I will love it all the more. I will love it to the point where it becomes mine again.
Gary ShteyngartRead
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There is something so deeply visceral about libraries for me-rooms and rooms full of people dreaming and remembering.
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Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book - though at the same time this frees you from its clutches.
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I didn't go to school a full year until I was 11 or 12, so I lived in books. I really was an observer of life.
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America's greatest long-term influence on China comes from playing host to the thousands of students who come from China each year, some of the ablest Chinese scholars and scientists. They will be the most powerful agents for change in China.
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The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument.
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You only learn when you give your whole being to something. When you give your whole being to mathematics,you learn; but when you are in a state of contradiction, when you do not want to learn but are forced to learn, then it becomes merely a process of accumulation. To learn is like reading a novel with innumerable characters; it requires your full attention, not contradictory attention.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead