A person who speaks like a book is exceedingly boring to listen to; sometimes, however, it is not inappropriate to talk in that way. For a book has the remarkable property that it can be interpreted any way you wish. If one talks like a book one’s conversation acquires this property too. I kept quite soberly to the usual formulas. She was surprised, as I’d expected; that can’t be denied. To describe to myself how she looked is difficult. She seemed multifaceted; yes just about like the still to be published but announced commentary to my book, a commentary capable of any interpretation. One word and she would have laughed at me; another and she would have been moved; still another and she would have shunned me; but no such word came to my lips. I remained solemnly unemotional and kept to the ritual.― ‘She had known me for such a short time’, dear God, it’s only on the strait path of engagement one meets such difficulties, not the primrose path of love.”―from_ Either/ Or: A Fragment of Life_. Abridged, Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Alastair Hannay, p. 312 . Soren Kierkegaard
About This Quote

The quote states that if you talk like a book, it can mean you talk about yourself and what you think the other person wants to hear. It is also quite interesting that this quote is taken from a book called, Either/Or: A Fragment of Life. One of the main themes in this book is the importance of not talking about yourself and putting yourself on a pedestal. If you get on a pedestal, people will always be looking for something that is new and different about you. If you just tell stories then you don’t have to worry about putting yourself on a pedestal and people will find out more about you and they will be able to see the real person behind the words.

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