The challenge for a nonfiction writer is to achieve a poetic precision using the documents of truth but somehow to make people and places spring to life as if the reader was in their presence.
Simon SchamaRead
I am not very relaxed about bad reviews. But I am resilient. I grieve, curse and swear, put on loud music, and get on with the next job.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of resilience in the face of criticism.
Simon Schama expresses that while he feels the weight of negative feedback and allows himself to experience emotions such as grief and frustration, he ultimately chooses to overcome those feelings and move forward to tackle the next challenge. This highlights the necessity of resilience and determination in the pursuit of one's goals, despite the inevitable setbacks.
Themes
ResilienceCriticismDeterminationOvercomingEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from Simon Schama
All quotes βIn its Greek origins, historia meant inquiry, and from Thucydides onwards, the past has been studied to understand its connections with the present.
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Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between.
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I understood when I was quite small that there were two special things about the Jews. That we'd endured for over 3,000 years despite everything that had been thrown at us, and that we had an extraordinarily dramatic story to tell.
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History is admirably dangerous. It is not the soft option. Teachers need to be grown up and brave. Sensitivity is fine, but it stops at the door of honest narrative.
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History gives you insight of the same quality of truth as poetry or philosophy or a novel.
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