The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.
A. S. ByattRead
The true exercise of freedom is - cannily and wisely and with grace - to move inside what space confines - and not seek to know what lies beyond and cannot be touched or tasted.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True freedom is about wisely navigating our limitations rather than striving for the unattainable.
In this quote, A. S. Byatt suggests that genuine freedom does not stem from an incessant desire to understand or reach beyond our physical and experiential limitations. Instead, it is found in the ability to maneuver gracefully within these confines, accepting rather than resisting what we cannot touch or taste. This perspective encourages us to appreciate the richness of our current experiences rather than seeking unattainable knowledge or realities.
Themes
FreedomLimitationsWisdomExperiencePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire a discussion on the nature of freedom at a philosophy club meeting.
More from A. S. Byatt
All quotes βIt's because I'm a feminist that I can't stand women limiting other women's imaginations. It really makes me angry.
A. S. ByattRead
Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.
A. S. ByattRead
Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.
A. S. ByattRead
Only write to me, write to me, I love to see the hop and skip and sudden starts of your ink.
A. S. ByattRead
I am a creature of my pen. My pen is the best of me.
A. S. ByattRead
Similar quotes
The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.
Max LucadoRead
When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?
Rene DescartesRead
Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.
Ayn RandRead
Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.
Phillips BrooksRead
Nothing short of self-respect and that justice which is essential to a national character ought to involve us in war.
George WashingtonRead
In principle as a philosophy, a model of organising society, Communism has to be respected. As regards the use of certain methods to advance social justice and greater regulation by the state, there are certain methods that are useful. What we need is a new society, a new civilization and convergence of all that is best in both [Communism and Capitalism]
Mikhail GorbachevRead