Quotes of the Week 2 · Rishab Academy

Quotes of the Week 2

Quote 1: “There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.” - Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

Quote 2: “Why can’t people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has got the wrong thing.”- Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier

Quote 3: “Let’s just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are.” - Andrew Largeman, Garden State

Quote 4: “It’s not destroying. It's making something new.” - Lena, Annihilation

Quote 5: “I was taught the way of progress was never swift nor easy.” - Marie Curie

Quote 6: “That’s what I consider true generosity: you give your all, and yet you always feel as if it cost you nothing.” - Simone de Beauvoir

Quote 7: “What is a man but the sum of his memories? We are the stories we live. The tales we tell ourselves.” - Clay Kaczmarek, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Quote 8: “I’m sure an answer will come to you. Wisdom takes time.” - Sonia, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I Capture the Castle is a book written by Dodie Smith and published in 1948. The book focuses on the 17 year old protagonist Cassandra Mortmain in the year 1934. Mortmain keeps a diary that she fills over the course of a few months which reflects on her life at her home, the ruined Suffolk Castle. The journal entities also are filled with information on her family. By the time the story ends, Mortmain’s outlook on life changes drastically and her family’s situation has also changed. Dodie Smith wrote this book as she was feeling homesick during the second world war. She had moved to the US from England and these emotions are detailed within her book. Dodie Smith is probably most well recognized for her book 101 Dalmations which later became a Disney movie. Dodie Smith died in 1990.

The quote from I Capture the Castle reflects Mortmain’s growth throughout the book as she matures and falls in love. All throughout her time journaling, during this incredibly turbulent time in history, Mortmain has been describing the world around her. Now, she has reached the final page of her story and fills it with the one emotion that she wishes to have and share with another whom she cares about. Love. Remember to love what you do in life.

The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion is a book written by Ford Maddox Ford and published on March 17th, 1915. The book focuses on the relationships between an English and American couple. The American narrator, John Dowell, looks deeper into the complex situation surrounding the facade of the English under King Edward. The book sports both dark and serious moments as well as more humorous moments. The Good Soldier was Ford’s first book and is still commended as one of his best and one of the best books of the 20th century as a whole.

The Good Soldier’s quote describes in a rhetorical question how the world is filled with the pleasures that can bring joy to one’s life, but very few people–if any at all–actually have those things which bring them pleasure. The quote describes the world as a place where everyone has the wrong thing to bring them pleasure, but through collaboration, it would be possible to reunite everyone with the thing that brings them joy.

Garden State is a comedy, romance, and drama movie which was released on July 28th, 2004.

**Trigger Warning for drug use below in this section**

The movie follows Andrew Largeman who returns home to his estranged family after being separated for a decade. His reason for returning: his mother had died and he needed to attend her funeral. Largeman is an actor who plays a quarterback football player. However, his controlling psychiatrist father blamed and guilt-tripped Largeman into believing that his mother’s life being stuck in a wheelchair was also his fault. During his time back at home in New Jersey, Largeman meets with some of his friends and realizes that the drugs he has been on since he was 10 years old have impaired his own view of life. Once he gets to view life without being impaired by the drugs, he gets to truly experience the pains, gains, and loves of life.

Largeman’s quote from Garden State how much he has grown since the start of the movie. He no longer acts as an actor in his own life. He can now experience the life he should have had for the past decade or so because he no longer uses the drugs that impaired his worldview.

Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction horror film based on a 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. The movie follows Lena, a cellular biology professor, who is trying to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of husband Kane. Kane returns from the disaster zone as the only member of his group to survive, but even then the conditions of this mysterious zone in Florida ended up putting Kane under intensive care in a hospital. The Shimmer is a disaster zone in Florida caused by a meteor which led to the mutation of plants and animals. Her expedition brings Lena, a physicist named Josie, a geomorphologist named Cass, a psychologist named Dr. Ventress, and a paramedic named Anya into an environmental disaster zone where the laws of nature no longer apply.

Lena’s quote from Annihilation reflects how the mysterious lands that she happened upon are doing more than just destroying the human world around them. The land is creating something new in its stead. The point of the reflection is to mimic how humanity has spread its reach across the world and has “destroyed” society in order to “make” society. The quote further enforces the natural theme of the movie.

Marie Curie is an iconic figure of science who was born on November 7th, 1867 and died on July 4th of 1934. Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist who conducted research which pioneered the field of radioactivity. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, the very first to win the Nobel Prize twice and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two fields of science. Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie won five Nobel Prizes during their life. Marie Curie was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. Marie Curie’s legacy is undeniable as she made monumental leaps in scientific innovation, and societal equality as a successful woman in science despite barriers. On top of that, the Curie couple was known for their humbleness as they turned down awards, donated monetary gifts and awards, and Marie Curie refrained from parenting her radium-isolation techniques in order to continue unhindered scientific research. Marie Curie’s death occurred due to aplastic anemia which was caused by the radiation. Her notebook is still too dangerous to touch because of the radiation. Curie’s ashes remain in the Pantheon in Paris which makes her the only omens to have such an honor.

Curie’s quote highlights how much progress can be made through the effort of humans. Yet, she acknowledges that progress is made slowly and that those who do make progress and leave behind an impact do so because they braved the challenges that faced them in their path.

Simone de Beauvoir was a French author, philosophist and feminist born on January 9th, 1908 and died April 14th, 1986. Simone is best known for her work “Le Deuxième Sexe, 2” or “The Second Sex” which was published in 1949 and has become one the classical pieces of literature for feminism. Beauvoir attended and graduated from Sorbonne for philosophy where she met Jean-Paul Sartre. She went on to teach from 1931 to 1943 until 1945 where Beauvoir and Sartre began their writing careers on existential themes with a mix of philosophy. Some of her most famous works include but are not limited to: She Came to Stay, The Mandarins, The Ethics of Ambiguity, the Long March, America Day to Day, and the Second Sex. She also wrote autobiographical works and works on the concept of aging. Her entire life was spent proving and displaying her life’s thesis: “the basic options of an individual must be made on the premises of an equal vocation for man and woman founded on a common structure of their being, independent of their sexuality”.

Beauvoir’s quote explains how she felt people should act towards others. She believed that we should respect each other with generosity, yet it should be an action so small that it appears to have no lasting effect on our life, but leading to great implications on the life of the individual who you acted generosity to.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a 2011 video game published by Ubisoft and developed as a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is the fourth main installment of the Assassin’s Creed series. The game continues the main gameplay of the previous game of the series and continues the story of Desmond Miles who fell into a coma at the end of the previous game. When Miles reawakens, he does so in a room called the Animus’ Black Room. In order to regain his consciousness, Desmond needs to relive the memories of his ancestor–the Master Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Clay Kaczmarek, the 16th test subject and a virtual creation, tells all of this to Miles who the adventure for the remainder of the game set in March of 1511.

Clay’s quote explains how we are who we are because of the memories and stories we create. Ironic as Clay is a virtual creation, his concepts still hold true to Miles as he relives the memories of his ancestor in order to reawaken himself and create his own memories and stories.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a 2023 video game published by Nintendo and developed as a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Tears of the Kingdom is the 20th installment in the Legend of Zelda series. The game continues the open world aspects that made Breath of the Wild receive the mass appeal that it had. The game continues the events of the previous entry as the hero Link and Princess Zelda travel beneath Hyrule Castle in order to observe the oddities of the miasma seeping from the bottom of the castle called gloom. As they travel deeper, they encounter the Demon King Ganondorf in a dehydrated state after he had been held captive for thousands of years. After Ganondorf escapes, Zelda disappears and Link reawakens on a sky island with a new arm after his previous one was lost in the encounter with Ganondorf.

Sonia is the queen of the first kingdom of Hyrule according to cutscenes in the game of the ancient past. Sonia’s quote to Zelda explains how the world has so many questions in regards to everything. However, the answer to the worries of life will eventually be answered. These answers just won’t come immediately.

Well, I wasn’t expecting to post it this late, but at least it’s here anyways. I’ll try and make next week’s post more on time. Also, I just finished Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem earlier this week. It was absolutely incredible!! I seriously recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction and especially to those physics enjoyers out there. Last week was a pretty busy week school work wise, but I’m pretty hyped because I got inducted to the National Honors Society this week. Good luck on your schoolwork and goals everyone.

I hope you enjoyed these quotes of the week!

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