It does not follow that the meaning must be given from above; that life and suffering must come neatly labeled; that nothing is worth while if the world is not governed by a purpose.
Walter KaufmannRead
Success is no proof of virtue. In the case of a book, quick acclaim is presumptive evidence of a lack of substance and originality.
Interpretation
Success does not necessarily indicate a person's moral character or the quality of their work.
This quote emphasizes that achieving success, especially in creative fields like literature, may not reflect true talent or integrity. Quick recognition may often be superficial and suggest a deficiency in deeper substance and originality, cautioning against valuing popularity over genuine quality and authenticity.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the merits of critically acclaimed versus popular books.
It does not follow that the meaning must be given from above; that life and suffering must come neatly labeled; that nothing is worth while if the world is not governed by a purpose.
Life ceases to be so oppressive: we are free to give our own lives meaning and purpose, free to redeem our suffering by making something of it.
The only theism worthy of our respect believes in God not because of the way the world is made but in spite of that. The only theism that is no less profound than the Buddha's atheism is that represented in the Bible by Job and Jeremiah.
Man stands alone in the universe, responsible for his condition, likely to remain in a lowly state, but free to reach above the stars.
I have criticized absent people so often, and then discovered, to my humiliation, that I was talking with their relatives, that I have grown superstitious about that sort of thing and dropped it.
It's not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing—they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me.
Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind...And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again...Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory Forgiving sets you free.
The man who gives way to anger, or hatred, or any other passion, cannot work; he only breaks himself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving, equable, well-balanced mind that does the greatest amount of work.
My self healing lies in praying for those who have harmed me.
As a reader and a writer, I'm happiest when apparently mutually exclusive states can somehow coexist.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.