I mean, it's like we all get our raw materials from our families―but it's up to us whether we build bridges or bombs.
Neal ShustermanRead
Unwinds didn't go out with a bang-they didn't even go out with a whimper. they went out with the silence of a candle flame pinched between two fingers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the subtle, quiet nature of endings and how they can often be overlooked or underappreciated.
In this quote, Neal Shusterman expresses the idea that some endings are not dramatic or noticeable; they fade out quietly, much like a candle flame being extinguished with gentle pressure. This metaphor suggests that while life may lead to significant changes or conclusions, these moments can sometimes be unobtrusive and not recognized for their significance, prompting reflection on the nature of transitions and how we perceive them.
Themes
EndingsSilenceTransitionReflectionLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on personal growth, one might say, 'As Shusterman poignantly illustrates, unwinds don't have to be loud; they can happen quietly, urging us to cherish every moment.'
More from Neal Shusterman
All quotes →Either things happen for a reason, or they happen for no reason at all. Either one's life is a thread in a glorious tapestry or humanity is just a hopelessly tangled knot.
Neal ShustermanRead
She smiles at them as they go by and continues to play, making it clear that this furnace of a place, full of planes that cannot fly, is more than it seems. It is a womb of redemption for every Unwind, and fora ll those who fought the Heartland War and lost - which was everybody.
Neal ShustermanRead
Words don't hurt you." Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain.
Neal ShustermanRead
Which is worse, Risa often wondered, to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted or to silently make then go away before they were even born
Neal ShustermanRead
They say you never know who's the real hero and who's the real coward until you're looking death in the face. I've always been afraid of plenty of things, but fear isn't what makes you a coward. It's how depraved your heart becomes when fear gets pumped through it.
Neal ShustermanRead
Similar quotes
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates.
T. S. EliotRead
Several times I asked myself, "Can it be that I have overlooked something, that there is something which I have failed to understand? Is it not possible that this state of despair is common to everyone?" And I searched for an answer to my questions in every area of knowledge acquired by man. For a long time I carried on my painstaking search; I did not search casually, out of mere curiosity, but painfully, persistently, day and night, like a dying man seeking salvation. I found nothing.
Leo TolstoyRead
Once you have become permanently startled, as I am, by the realization that we are a social species, you tend to keep an eye out for the pieces of evidence that this is, by and large, good for us.
Lewis ThomasRead
He works in us and with us, not against us or without us; so that his assistance is an encouragement to the facilitating of the work, and no occasion of neglect as to the work itself.
John OwenRead
This is the work of Nâma-Rupa - name and form. Everything that has form, everything that calls up an idea in your mind, is within Maya; for everything that is bound by the laws of time, space, and causation is within Maya.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Death is the ultimate enemy - and I find nothing reproachable in those who rage mightily against the dying of the light.
Stephen Jay GouldRead