We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.
Tom RobbinsRead
Somewhere in the archives of crudest instinct is recorded the truth that it is better to be endangered and free than captive and comfortable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the value of freedom over comfort, suggesting that being endangered while free is preferable to being safe but confined.
Tom Robbins reflects on the fundamental human instinct that prioritizes freedom above a life of safety and comfort. This quote urges individuals to recognize that true fulfillment is found in embracing risk and autonomy, rather than simply seeking security through confinement or complacency. It provokes thought about the nature of freedom and the price we pay for comfort, suggesting that a life lived fully, even with its dangers, is far richer than one spent in bondage, no matter how cozy it may seem.
Themes
FreedomComfortInstinctRiskLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about pursuing dreams despite risks, this quote can illustrate the importance of choosing freedom.
More from Tom Robbins
All quotes βThere are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for.
Tom RobbinsRead
The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. You get to take yourself oh so very seriously.
Tom RobbinsRead
I'm an outlaw, not a philosopher, but I know this much: there's meaning in everything, all things are connected, and a good champagne is a drink.' Bernard began to sing again. Timidly, Leigh-Cheri joined in. Between verses, they opened another bottle. The popping of its cork echoed throughout the great stone chamber. Of the three billion people on earth, only Bernard and Leigh-Cheri heard the popping of the cork and its echoes. Only Bernard and Leigh-Cheri passed out under the tablecloth.
Tom RobbinsRead
The Divine was beyond description, beyond knowing, beyond comprehension. To say that the Divine was Creation divided by Destruction was as close as one could come to definition. But the puny of soul, the dull of wit, weren't content with that. They wanted to hang a face on the Divine. They went so far as to attribute petty human emotions - anger, jealousy, etc - to it, not stopping to realize that if God were a being, even a supreme being, our prayers would have bored him to death long ago.
Tom RobbinsRead
On their sofas of spice and feathers, the concubines also slept fretfully. In those days the Earth was still flat, and people dreamed often of falling over edges.
Tom RobbinsRead
Similar quotes
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.
Arundhati RoyRead
I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.
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Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
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Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
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Two sentiments alone suffice for man, were he to live the age of the rocks - love, and the contemplation of the Deity.
Isaac WattsRead
He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead