I was making my living from a joke about my appearance that I didn't understand, and in a way still don't, because when I look in a mirror it doesn't seem funny to me.
Wallace ShawnRead
But because we've all been readers, we know what the experience is like, and we hope that what certain writers have given to us, we will give to someone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We aspire to share the impact of literature with others, as we ourselves have been profoundly influenced by it.
In this quote, Wallace Shawn reflects on the transformative power of reading and the desire of readers to pass on the gift of literature. When we immerse ourselves in the writings of others, we not only gain knowledge and insight but also experience a deep connection, which compels us to share that enrichment with others, hoping to evoke similar feelings and thoughts in them.
Themes
ReadingLiteratureInfluenceSharingExperience
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher might use this quote to inspire students to appreciate the books they read.
More from Wallace Shawn
All quotes βI do things, and other people laugh at them. I rarely know what the joke is supposed to be or why they're laughing.
Wallace ShawnRead
We are not what we seem. We are more than what we seem. The actor knows that. And because the actor knows that hidden inside himself there's a wizard and a king, he also knows that when he's playing himself in his daily life, he's playing a part, he's performing, just as he's performing when he plays a part on stage.
Wallace ShawnRead
Similar quotes
Many have marked the speed with which Muad'Dib learned the necessities of Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit, of course, know the basis of this speed. For the others, we can say that Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.
Frank HerbertRead
Why is history important? Without history, many people have no idea how many of today's half-baked ideas have been tried, again and again - and have repeatedly led to disaster. Most of these ideas are not new. They are just being recycled with re-treaded rhetoric.
Thomas SowellRead
Become a teacher. Your country needs you.
Barack ObamaRead
Indeed the general natural Tendency of Reading good History, must be, to fix in the Minds of Youth deep Impressions of the Beauty and Usefulness of Virtue of all Kinds, Publick Spirit, Fortitude.
Benjamin FranklinRead
There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
I feel very strongly indeed that a Cambridge education for our scientists should include some contact with the humanistic side. The gift of expression is important to them as scientists; the best research is wasted when it is extremely difficult to discover what it is all about ... It is even more important when scientists are called upon to play their part in the world of affairs, as is happening to an increasing extent.
William Lawrence BraggRead