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Quote by Teju Cole

“You are different, okay, but that difference is never seen as containing its own value. Difference as orientalist entertainment is allowed, but difference with its own intrinsic value, no.”

Quote by Teju Cole

Work

Open City

In this introspective novel, the protagonist, a young man of immigrant descent, navigates the diverse and intricate landscape of New York City. The story delves into themes of identity, immigration, and the challenges of fitting into a new society while maintaining cultural heritage. The narrative is characterized by its meditative tone and the exploration of the protagonist's personal and philosophical musings. more

Author

Teju Cole
Teju Cole

Teju Cole, born on June 27, 1975, is a distinguished Nigerian-American writer known for his unique literary style and profound insights into contemporary social issues. His works, which include novels, photography, and essays, explore themes of race, identity, and globalization. Cole's debut novel, 'Every Day Is a Good Day,' won the 2008 National Book Award, and his photography and essays have also received widespread recognition, including the Photography Prize from The New Yorker magazine. more

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“Being valuable is the start. But a good business also has to communicate its value to its customers and those customers have to also voluntarily be in agreement with that value. If the customers perceive the value, and determine that the value they obtain from your businesses products or services is greater than the value of the dollars, Renminbi or ETH they have in their wallet… then they will pay for what your business is selling. If not, they won’t.”

“6.4 All propositions are of equal value. 6.41 The sense of the world must lie outside the world. In the world everything is as it is, and everything happens as it does happen: in it no value exists—and if it did exist, it would have no value. If there is any value that does have value, it must lie outside the whole sphere of what happens and is the case. For all that happens and is the case is accidental. What makes it non-accidental cannot lie within the world, since if it did it would itself be accidental. It must lie outside the world. 6.42 So too it is impossible for there to be propositions of ethics. Propositions can express nothing that is higher. 6.43 If the good or bad exercise of the will does alter the world, it can alter only the limits of the world, not the facts—not what can be expressed by means of language. In short the effect must be that it becomes an altogether different world. It must, so to speak, wax and wane as a whole. The world of the happy man is a different one from that of the unhappy man. 6.44 It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists. 6.45 To view the world sub specie aeterni is to view it as a whole—a limited whole. Feeling the world as a limited whole—it is this that is mystical.”

“Do your best. The effort you put in will be rewarded. Sometimes, your best will be better than at other times. Do your best, one day at a time. That's good enough. You don’t know who may get value from something you have said or done. More people than you realise can be blessed by you. We only get told a small fraction of the effect we have on other people. When we get the occasional compliment, we can take it as a reminder that there are people out there benefiting from what we are doing.”