Tuesdays With Morrie Chapter 17 Quotes
Tuesdays With Morrie Chapter 17 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
But then I figured, Forget what the culture says. I have ignored the culture much of my life. I am not going to be ashamed. What's the big deal? (17.8)
Morrie is explaining to Mitch that he struggled with other people taking care of all his basic needs at first, but then he made a choice to forget what everyone says is the "normal" way of things. After he makes this choice, his day-to-day life gets a lot better.
Quote 2
"And, in addition to all the miseries, the young are not wise. They have very little understanding about life. Who wants to live every day when you don't know what's going on? When people are manipulating you, telling you to buy this perfume and you'll be beautiful […] and you believe them! It's such nonsense." (17.20)
Take it from Morrie: Being young is overrated. Youth comes with all kinds of the wrong priorities—beauty, looks, fads—and these things don't make people wise, only foolish and unhappy. It's not impossible, but it's very difficult for young people to have the right priorities. But at the same time, everybody wants to be young.
Quote 3
He smiled. "You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until sixty-five." (17.26)
Getting principles, so to speak, will give meaning to your life, providing both structure and a reason for your day-to-day existence. And the good news is that once you get your priorities straight, it sets you on a one-way track; you can't just stop caring about the right things.