Only maybe he did get it. The joke wasn't men, the joke was people who didn't know what they wanted to give or get and so kept disappointing and being disappointed.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The real joke is on people who do not know their desires and disappoint others.
- In plain terms
- People disappoint others because they do not know what they want.
- What can you take from it?
- Uncertainty about desires leads to repeated disappointment.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you know what you want?
- Can you disappoint someone without meaning to?
Another view
It overlooks external factors that cause disappointment beyond personal desire.
More from Orson Scott Card
What is this thing between women, like men are a joke that woman all told each other long ago but men never get it.
Permalink to quote #917 [He] didn't know what he wanted, but he did know what he didn't want. What he didn't want was any of the girls at school. He had lots of friends who were girls…
Permalink to quote #919 Everybody dies. What matters is what you do between now and when it happens to you. It was especially important for [him], because he was living for two
Permalink to quote #916
Related quotes
O woman, perfect woman! what distraction Was meant to mankind when thou wast made a devil!
John FletcherJohn Fletcher quote #1 Caraf trachas Lloegyr, lleudir goglet hediw, ac yn amgant y Lliw lliwas callet. Caraf am rotes rybuched met, myn y dyhaet my meith gwyrysset. Carafy theilu ae …
Hywel ab Owain GwyneddHywel ab Owain Gwynedd quote #1 I'm just an old slag who gets up every morning, scratches his head and wonders what he wants to fuck.
Freddie MercuryFreddie Mercury quote #2