I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get drunk, go to church, go to analysts, or take part in demonstrations.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The author lists numerous social activities they avoid to define themselves through non-participation.
- In plain terms
- I do not join clubs or do many common social activities.
- What can you take from it?
- Identity can be defined as much by what one avoids as by what one does.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Which social norms do you reject?
- How do you define your boundaries?
Another view
Defining oneself solely by exclusion can seem aloof or overly rigid.
More from Vladimir Nabokov
I don't think in any language. I think in images. I don't believe that people think in languages. They don't move their lips when they think. It is only a cert…
Permalink to quote #19 To be quite candid - and what I am going to say now is something I have never said before, and I hope that it provokes a salutory chill - I know more than I ca…
Permalink to quote #21 My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting.
Permalink to quote #18
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