--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I take literature as a really serious…" description: "\"I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/726/david-shields-8815_activity_i-take-literature-as-a-really-serious-hu_1833711.jpg" --- # I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's… ![“I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it's really serious.” quote by David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/726/david-shields-8815_activity_i-take-literature-as-a-really-serious-hu_1833711.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/726/david-shields-8815_activity_i-take-literature-as-a-really-serious-hu_1833711.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/726/david-shields-8815_activity_i-take-literature-as-a-really-serious-hu_1833711.jpg) > “I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it's really serious.” [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Treating literature as a serious human endeavor emphasizes its cultural and emotional significance beyond entertainment. **In simple terms:** Literature matters deeply. Key Takeaway Respect literary work. Themes literature culture seriousness Mood contemplative inspired Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - education curricula - critical reading - creative writing - public discourse Key Concepts humanism artistic value Questions to Reflect On - What makes literature vital today? - How does seriousness affect enjoyment? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on seriousness may stifle creativity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Human activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-activity/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wonderful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonderful/) ## Related quotes > [An interesting thing about New Zealand, you know, literature is that it really didn't begin in any real sense until the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/an-interesting-thing-about-new-zealand-you-know-literature-is-that-it/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [Virginia Woolf's literature really transformed my own ideas about how to formally represent the passage of time and how time affects us. Specifically, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/virginia-woolf-s-literature-really-transformed-my-own-ideas-about-how/) [David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/) > [Literature is the human activity that make the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/literature-is-the-human-activity-that-make-the-fullest-and-most/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-weeks/what-people-value-in-their-books-and-thus-what-they-count-as/) [Brent Weeks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-weeks/) > [Just as once upon a time you could make the experience of religion or nature a great metaphor, so now it is with love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vivian-gornick/just-as-once-upon-a-time-you-could-make-the-experience-of-religion-or/) [Vivian Gornick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vivian-gornick/) > [“The truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-weeks/the-truth-is-everyone-likes-to-look-down-on-someone-if-your-favorites/) [Brent weeks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-weeks/) > [England opened up the world of literature for me. Not really having a world of my own, I made up for my disinheritance by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-prawer-jhabvala/england-opened-up-the-world-of-literature-for-me-not-really-having-a/) [Ruth Prawer Jhabvala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-prawer-jhabvala/) > [What is literature, really? Boiled down to a single sentence, I'd say it's this: an endless conversation about what it means to be human.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/what-is-literature-really-boiled-down-to-a-single-sentence-i-d-say-it/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/the-reason-that-fiction-is-more-interesting-than-any-other-form-of/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [When Thomas Mann arrived in California from Germany, they asked him about German literature. And he said, 'German literature is where I am.' It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/when-thomas-mann-arrived-in-california-from-germany-they-asked-him/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [I imagine as long as people will continue to read novels, people will continue to write them, or vice versa; unless of course the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/i-imagine-as-long-as-people-will-continue-to-read-novels-people-will/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > ['Harry Potter' opened so many doors for young adult literature. It really did convince the publishing industry that writing for children was a viable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/harry-potter-opened-so-many-doors-for-young-adult-literature-it/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [If the future, as imagined in literature, is really the present taken to extremes, then the past is also the present, but boiled down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/if-the-future-as-imagined-in-literature-is-really-the-present-taken/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Everybody has a different idea of when those good old days were, but everyone is convinced that there was a time when literature really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/everybody-has-a-different-idea-of-when-those-good-old-days-were-but/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [ \[On Cantor's work:\] The finest product of mathematical genius and one of the supreme achievements of purely intellectual human activity. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hilbert/on-cantor-s-work-the-finest-product-of-mathematical-genius-and-one-of/) [David Hilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hilbert/) ## More by David Shields > [To be honest, there are parts of 'How Literature Saved My Life' that began as interviews. Someone was telling me that they think the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/to-be-honest-there-are-parts-of-how-literature-saved-my-life-that/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [People like Ian McEwan and Jonathan Franzen completely bore me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/people-like-ian-mcewan-and-jonathan-franzen-completely-bore-me/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [You're one of 6.5 billion people now on the planet, and 99.9 percent of your genes are the same as everyone else's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/you-re-one-of-6-5-billion-people-now-on-the-planet-and-99-9-percent/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [We're completely confused about the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. To me, the moment you compose, you're fictionalising; the moment you remember, you're dreaming.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/we-re-completely-confused-about-the-boundaries-between-fiction-and/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Your art is most alive and dangerous when you use it against yourself. That's why I pick at my scabs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/your-art-is-most-alive-and-dangerous-when-you-use-it-against-yourself/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Everything I write, I believe instinctively, is to some extent collage. Meaning, ultimately, is a matter of adjacent data.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/everything-i-write-i-believe-instinctively-is-to-some-extent-collage/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Swimming is by far the best tonic I've found for my back. I'm not a good swimmer - I do the breaststroke or elementary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/swimming-is-by-far-the-best-tonic-i-ve-found-for-my-back-i-m-not-a/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I've always liked this idea that writing should comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable to create trouble. The value of a work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-ve-always-liked-this-idea-that-writing-should-comfort-the-afflicted/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) "life as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [“A great book allows me to leap over that wall: in a deep, significant conversation with another consciousness, I feel human and unalone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/a-great-book-allows-me-to-leap-over-that-wall-in-a-deep-significant/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-novel-is-dead-long-live-the-antinovel-built-from-scraps/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I am exhausted by traditional memoir. I am exhausted by the architecture of the conventional novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-am-exhausted-by-traditional-memoir-i-am-exhausted-by-the/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I couldn't tell a story if my life depended on it. I'm the world's worst joke-teller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-couldn-t-tell-a-story-if-my-life-depended-on-it-i-m-the-world-s/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-absence-of-plot-leaves-the-reader-room-to-think-about-other-things/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) [Explore all 77 David Shields quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## More Activity quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [For the longest time, neuroscientists were forced to be passive observers of brain activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gero-miesenbock/for-the-longest-time-neuroscientists-were-forced-to-be-passive/) Gero Miesenbock > [Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/enjoyment-is-not-a-goal-it-is-a-feeling-that-accompanies-important/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/once-an-activity-has-been-socialized-it-is-impossible-to-point-out-by/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [“Fun is not an activity, it is a state of mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/fun-is-not-an-activity-it-is-a-state-of-mind/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [I have to consider everything I eat; I consider every activity I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kimball/i-have-to-consider-everything-i-eat-i-consider-every-activity-i-do/) [Charlie Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kimball/) > [Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/almost-all-good-businesses-engage-in-pain-today-gain-tomorrow/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) Browse all 3,263 Activity quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I take literature as a really serious human activity. 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