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About this quote

What does it mean?
Kennan credits curiosity and engagement with the world as vital to staying alive and relevant.
In plain terms
Wanting to know about the world kept him living.
What can you take from it?
Intellectual curiosity keeps people engaged with life.

Where it applies

  • elderly care
  • mental health

Putting it to work

  • promoting lifelong learning
  • combating isolation

Questions to consider

  • What keeps you interested in life?
  • How does age affect curiosity?

Another view

Physical health also plays a major role in longevity regardless of curiosity.

More from George F. Kennan

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  3. Here, for the first time, I felt an unshakable conviction that no momentary military advantage - even if such could have been calculated to exist - could have …

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