Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Stephen KingRead
Perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that being overly cautious can lead to a heightened state of awareness.
Stephen King's quote can be interpreted to mean that an extreme level of paranoia can lead one to be more perceptive and aware of their surroundings and situations. This heightened awareness may be beneficial in some contexts, as it encourages vigilance and attentiveness, though it can also lead to anxiety and distress if taken too far.
Themes
ParanoiaAwarenessPerceptionVigilanceCaution
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about mental health and the balance between awareness and anxiety.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Stephen KingRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
Stephen KingRead
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Stephen KingRead
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
Stephen KingRead
Similar quotes
May my mind stroll about hungry and fearless and thirsty and supple and even if its sunday may i be wrong for whenever men are right they are not young
E. E. CummingsRead
I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
Dalai LamaRead
You know when I was 20 and 30, they were insecurities. Now they're just a new normal. I'm 60 years old, so my expectations of who I am and how I look and how I show up in the world had to shift. Not because I couldn't help it, or not because I did anything wrong, but because I had to get into the natural flow of my being as a woman.
Iyanla VanzantRead
I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that i may owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat.
James A. GarfieldRead
The pleasures of the palate deal with us like Egyptian thieves who strangle those whom they embrace.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Clean your finger before you point at my spots.
Benjamin FranklinRead