Home / Quotes / Quote by Adam Gopnik

Quote by Adam Gopnik

“The special virtue of freedom is not that it makes you richer and more powerful but that it gives you more time to understand what it means to be alive.”

Quote by Adam Gopnik

Author

Adam Gopnik is a renowned Canadian writer whose essays and articles on culture, literature, and politics have made a significant impact on public discourse. Born on August 24, 1956, Gopnik has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1986, contributing thought-provoking insights into the complexities of modern life. His work, characterized by its wit and emotional depth, has earned him a place among the most influential writers of his generation. more

You May Also Like

“Paris, on the other hand, looked exactly as it was supposed to look. It wore its heart on its sleeve, and the strange thing was that the heart it wore so openly was in other ways so closed-mysterious, uninviting.”

Way Looks Heart Hands Strange Mysterious Paris Sleeves Strange Things

Book:Paris to the Moon

Source: Paris to the Moon

“Of all the unexpected things in contemporary literature, this is among the oddest: that kids have an inordinate appetite for very long, very tricky, very strange books about places that don't exist...”

Long Book Kids Literature Strange Contemporary Unexpected Appetite Tricky Contemporary Literature Unexpected Things

Author:Adam Gopnik

“There are two kinds of travelers. There is the kind who goes to see what there is to see, and the kind who has an image in his head and goes out to accomplish it. The first visitor has an easier time, but I think the second visitor sees more.”

Thinking Firsts Kind Two Easier Accomplish Traveler Visitors Easier Times

Book:Paris to the Moon

Source: Paris to the Moon

“Leafing through Forbes or Fortune [magazine]s is like reading the operating manual of a strangely sanctimonious pirate ship”

Reading Fortune Ships Magazines Pirate Manuals Forbes Sanctimonious Pirate Ships

Author:Adam Gopnik

“Writing well isn't just a question of winsome expression, but of having found something big and true to say and having found the right words to say it in, of having seen something large and having found the right words to say it small, small enough to enter an individual mind so that the strong ideas of what the words are saying sound like sweet reason.”

Writing Mind Wells Ideas Reason Enough Bigs Found Individual Strong Sound Sweet Expression Right Words Writing Well Winsome

Author:Adam Gopnik

“The past is so often unknowable not because it is befogged now but because it was befogged then, too, back when it was still the present. If we had been there listening, we still might not have been able to determine exactly what Stanton said. All we know for sure is that everyone was weeping, and the room was full.”

Ifs Knows Has Beens Said Stills Might Able Past Rooms Listening Determine Weeping Back When

Book:Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life

Source: Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life

“The future will be like the past, in the sense that, no matter how amazing or technologically advanced a society becomes, the basic human rhythm of petty malevolence, sordid moneygrubbing, and official violence, illuminated by occasional bursts of loyalty or desire or tenderness, will go on.”

Humans Matter Past Desire Violence Goes On Loyalty Rhythm Officials Tenderness Petty Occasional Malevolence

Author:Adam Gopnik

“When someone reaches middle age, people he knows begin to get put in charge of things, and knowing what he knows about the people who are being put in charge of things scares the hell out of him.”

People Knows Age Hell Knowing Middle Scare Middle Ages

Book:Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff

Source: Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff

“Do my ears deceive me, or can I actually hear the sounds of worms turning? You say a turning worm makes no sound? But how about a chorus of turning worms?”

Sound Ears Deceiving Worms Chorus

Author:Calvin Trillin

“I suppose it's possible that the Sundance Kid didn't like to make much of his birthdays — they may have struck him as just another reminder that his draw was getting slower by the year—but what if he truly liked a major celebration? What if he looked forward every year to marking the day of his birth with what they used to call in the West 'a real wingding, with pink balloons and a few survivors'?”

Ifs Years May Real Kids Used Birth Majors Draws West What If Survivor Celebration Reminders Balloons Sundance

Book:Travels with Alice

Source: Travels with Alice