Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.
Interpretation
Growing up is a difficult process that requires effort, unlike the ease of remaining in a perpetual state of childhood.
In this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the challenges of adulthood and the maturity that comes with it. He suggests that many people find it simpler to avoid the responsibilities and complexities of growing up, preferring instead to navigate life in a childlike state, which lacks depth and growth. The quote underscores the significance of embracing the arduous journey of maturity to fully understand life and oneself.
In practice
In a graduation speech, one might encourage young adults to embrace the challenges of growing up rather than resisting them.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.
Life is - the way God has given it to me was just a platter - a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful.
My dad taught me to never be pigeonholed; to really allow yourself to reinvent characters as they reinvent you; to be bold and to be willing to play seemingly unlikeable people.
The lesson, I suppose, is that none of us have much control over how we will be remembered. Every life is an amalgam, and it is impossible to know what moments, what foibles, what charms will come to define us once we're gone. All we can do is live our lives fully, be authentically ourselves and trust that the right things about us, the best and most fitting things, will echo in the memories of us that endure.
I think when you give, that's probably the highest form of living. It's better than almost any feeling you could think of. It's way better than scoring touchdowns to me.
I would die if I had to be confined. I don't want to feel that I'm missing out on experiencing as much as I can. For me, experiencing is knowing people all over the world and being able to photograph.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.