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About this quote

What does it mean?
The author distinguishes between their professional task and their deeper purpose of existence.
In plain terms
Writing is my job but being alive is my real purpose.
What can you take from it?
Existence matters more than profession.

Where it applies

  • career reflection
  • personal philosophy
  • daily life

Putting it to work

  • prioritize being
  • reflect on work
  • find meaning

Questions to consider

  • What is your real work?
  • How do you define being?

Another view

It ignores that work often shapes how we be.

More from William Saroyan

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  2. To remember something or to invent something, it comes to the same thing.

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  3. The boy on the Oakland porch goes to sleep upon the universe of ice and wakes up and remembers the death of his father and mother, and sees the sun.

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