Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Because things like this you can only ssay once. And you either get it wrong or right, it's the end either way, because it's too hard to ever try to say again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the finality of certain moments and the challenges of expressing significant thoughts or feelings.
Stephen King's quote reflects on the weight of words and the impact they can have. It suggests that some statements are so crucial that they can only be made once, emphasizing the importance of getting them right. The recognition of this pressure can lead to a hesitation to speak, knowing that missteps in such moments cannot easily be corrected. Ultimately, it speaks to the complexity of human communication and emotions, acknowledging that some truths are too profound to be repeated.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to emphasize the significance of choosing the right words.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
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To live a life that is wrong for you is a form of dying. There are people who have lives that look perfect. They try to be happy, they believe they should be happy, they are trying to like it, but if it's off course from their north star, they aren't satisfied.
There are certain weights in life you simply cannot carry. Your Lord is asking you to set them down and trust Him. What do you say we take God up on His offer?
Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone. Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him. He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance. Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that. He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.
What a good thing, for instance, it was that one princess should sleep for a hundred years! Was she not saved from all the plague of young men who were not worthy of her? And did not she come awake exactly at the right moment when the right prince kissed her? For my part, I cannot help wishing a good many girls would sleep till just the same fate overtook them. It would be happier for them, and more agreeable to their friends.
It just goes to show, if you try to ruin someone's life, it only gets better. You just don't get to be a part of it.