My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions.
I went through withdrawal when I got out of graduate school. It's what you learn, what you think. That's all that counts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the transition from academic life to real-world experiences, emphasizing the importance of learning and personal perspective.
Maya Lin's quote captures the feeling of disconnection that often accompanies the completion of education, particularly graduate school. It suggests that the true value lies not in the formal credentials or titles earned, but in the knowledge gained and the way individuals choose to interpret and apply that knowledge in their lives. This perspective highlights the significance of critical thinking and personal growth beyond academic institutions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech, one might use this quote to inspire students about the importance of lifelong learning.
More from Maya Lin
All quotes βI try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me.
How we are using up our home, how we are living and polluting the planet is frightening. It was evident when I was a child. It's more evident now.
Sometimes you have to stop thinking. Sometimes you shut down completely. I think that's true in any creative field.
A lot of my works deal with a passage, which is about time. I don't see anything that I do as a static object in space. It has to exist as a journey in time.
When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don't pry into other people's business.
Similar quotes
I don't teach writing classes anymore, and I'm really glad I don't, because I would feel very strange about telling people, 'Go out there and be a writer, and make a living from it.'
The education of attention would be an education par excellence
Though Nathalie Dupree did not remember much about my presence in her class, it marked me forever. I remain her enthusiast, her evangelist, her acolyte, and her grateful student. She taught me that cooking and storytelling make the most delightful coconspirators.
I tell you, in this country, you don't get much of an education. Throughout high school, through junior college, which is all I went, I didn't know anything about the annihilation of all the Indian nations that were here.
The only condition a library asks its users to honor is to do justice to their own imagination, their own curiosity and their own thirst for knowledge, and in the process, to achieve their own independence of mind and spirit.
I was never born to write. I was taught to write. And I am still being taught to write.