Tuesdays With Morrie Chapter 19 Quotes
Tuesdays With Morrie Chapter 19 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
"Ahhhh, it's my buddy," he would say when he saw me, in that foggy, high-pitched voice. And it didn't stop with the greeting. When Morrie was with you, he was really with you. He looked you straight in the eye, and he listened as if you were the only person in the world. (19.52)
Morrie is the best friend ever because he has this way of making you feel like you're the only person who matters. He doesn't get distracted by things around him, and instead gives Mitch this intense, amazing attention. This special quality is very important in making him the kind of person everybody wants to feel close to.
Quote 2
"Part of the problem, Mitch, is that everyone is in such a hurry," Morrie said. "People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running." (19.57)
Sounds kind of like Mitch when he was young, doesn't it? Life becomes this mad race to accumulate things in the name of piling up happiness. The race gets more and more desperate, though, because people don't get happier and they don't have any time to stop and rethink their priorities.
Quote 3
I remembered how he used to teach this idea in the Group Process class back at Brandeis. I had scoffed back then, thinking this was hardly a lesson plan for a university course. Learning to pay attention? How important could that be? I now know it is more important than almost everything they taught us in college. (19.55)
Learning how to learn—what a concept. Morrie is wise to realize that this is one of the most basic things we need to learn. We need to learn to walk before we learn to run or ride a bike, right? Well if we learn the basic tool of becoming aware of the world around us, then we can get started on particulars.