Your Favorite Literary Quote
Today while you were reciting your favorite literary quotes, I noticed that your peers really liked your choices. Let's post them here so we can take a closer look. Although it's difficult, please only select one for now.
To be honest, one of my quotes was my favorite because it expresses one of my deepest philosophies in simple manner.
ReplyDelete"The mind is its own place; in itself/Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
Essentially, this quote is saying that there is nothing more powerful than a strong mind simply because it can do anything, such as making a bad thing good or a good thing bad. Perhaps it's selfish of me, but that is definitely my favorite quote said today.
However, that's not to say that I didn't like anyone else's quotes. For example, Andrew's quote said by Victor Frankenstein's creature about the "infinite justice of man" was particularly good.
"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out." Tale of Two Cities by C. Dickens, Sydney Carton's final thoughts!
ReplyDelete"He lay on the cold floor sobbing, but really he was standing up strongly with contrite heart, holding his life in his hands, staring at it with a wondering question. He lay on the cold floor sobbing, but really he was pushing foward with puny strength against a world to big and to strong for him. He lay on the cold floor sobbing, but really he was groping foward with fierce zeal into a welter of circumstances; which he thought contained a water of mercy for the thirst of his heart and soul."
ReplyDeleteNative Son
Richard Wright
Narrator speaking.
"I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensation of depondence and mortification."
ReplyDelete"Frankenstein"
Mary Shelly
Monster informing Victor.
Steven,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great passage!Notice how the author used chiasmus? Besides that, it's meaning is very empowering. Thanks for sharing.
Jose,
This passage still makes me well up. Why is it so powerful still? It reminds me almost of MLK Jr.'s writing style.
Karen,
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful how your passage builds momentum. It's a great example for our word of the week (anaphora). I wonder if it can also be considered a paradox, because how can someone be kneeling and at the same time standing up straight and pushing forward? Yet, it expresses a truth.
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ReplyDelete"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example.. how dangerous the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world than he who aspires to be greater than nature will allow."
ReplyDeleteVictor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley.
Ultimately, this passage screams "ignorance is bliss..." and most of us who are in AP Eng, we'll never be fully content with the world because we are aware of so much..We are cognizant about genocides, corrupt governments, sweatshops, injustice in the gay community, racism, injustice inflicted on illegal immigrants...the list is eternal. I think back to when I didn't know much about the world and I was happier, yet now that I know! I am sadly jaded, and I'll never be content... Just as Victor Frankenstein was never content, we are all a little bit Victor Frankenstein....
My favorite quote comes from Oscar Wilde. It goes, "London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." It's from his book, the Importance of Being Earnest. It's all about choice and being whatever you portray yourself as, and it's funny.
ReplyDeleteAll the quotes recited were very good, one of my favorite was from Frankenstein.
ReplyDelete"You accuse me of murder; yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!"
This quote show how man is not perfect. It also accurately expresses a controversial idea that is still argued today. The death penalty. How can we kill someone for killing someone??? It does not solve the problem it just creates a cycle of murder that can never be truly atoned for, nor can it make it any safer in our world. All that is does is make us feel a little better that we punished someone who was bad. I think that the Monster has a point how can man call itself just if it murders people as punishment?