--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm not telling you to make the world…" description: "\"“I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I'm just telling you to live in ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4f/joan-didion-497_good-luck_i-m-not-telling-you-to-make-the-world-be_2713968.jpg" --- # I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I… ![“I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I'm just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4f/joan-didion-497_good-luck_i-m-not-telling-you-to-make-the-world-be_2713968.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4f/joan-didion-497_good-luck_i-m-not-telling-you-to-make-the-world-be_2713968.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4f/joan-didion-497_good-luck_i-m-not-telling-you-to-make-the-world-be_2713968.jpg) > ““I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I'm just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave's a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that's what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it.”” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Encourages embracing life actively, taking risks, and creating meaning rather than merely enduring existence. **In simple terms:** Live fully, take risks, create meaning. Key Takeaway Act, take risks, create purpose. Themes existence risk meaning creativity Mood defiant inspired reflective Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career choices - artistic projects - personal relationships - adventure travel - entrepreneurship Key Concepts existentialism authenticity impermanence Questions to Reflect On - What would you create if time were limited? - How do you balance risk with responsibility? A Different Perspective Life's brevity may limit long‑term planning; not all risks yield positive outcomes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Seize the moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seize-the-moment/) [Tidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tidal/) ## Related quotes > [Throw yourself into the convulsions of the world. I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't believe progress is necessarily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/throw-yourself-into-the-convulsions-of-the-world-i-m-not-telling-you/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [What I want to tell you today is not to move into that world where you're alone with yourself and your mantra and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/what-i-want-to-tell-you-today-is-not-to-move-into-that-world-where/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“You live recklessly when you do not take God's law seriously or respond to the gospel properly. Reckless living can look like laziness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-thorn/you-live-recklessly-when-you-do-not-take-god-s-law-seriously-or/) [Joe Thorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-thorn/) > [I think progress is a sort of comfortable disease, and we've got a media that says entertainment and celebrity, which isn't bad in itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-roddick/i-think-progress-is-a-sort-of-comfortable-disease-and-we-ve-got-a/) [Anita Roddick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-roddick/) > [Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/thinkers-think-and-doers-do-but-until-the-thinkers-do-and-the-doers/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [It would be advisable to think of progress in the crudest, most basic terms: that no one should go hungry anymore, that there should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-would-be-advisable-to-think-of-progress-in-the-crudest-most-basic/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I would like to think that we have made much more progress, that we've come much further, to have someone like a Donald Trump…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lewis/i-would-like-to-think-that-we-have-made-much-more-progress-that-we-ve/) [John Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lewis/) > [“Small, therefore, can we think the progress we have made, as long as our admiration for those who have done noble things is barren,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/small-therefore-can-we-think-the-progress-we-have-made-as-long-as-our/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [“That’s progress,” McIlveen said. “What we think of as progress,” she countered. “To the Yautja, we’re barely crawling. Sometimes I think we’re like deer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lebbon/that-s-progress-mcilveen-said-what-we-think-of-as-progress-she/) [Tim Lebbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lebbon/) > [You don't think progress goes in a straight line, do you? Do you recognize that it is an ascending, accelerating, maybe even exponential curve?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/you-don-t-think-progress-goes-in-a-straight-line-do-you-do-you/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [I think, the most progress I have agenda, the progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. So we have got to continue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/i-think-the-most-progress-i-have-agenda-the-progressive-platform-in/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [I think there has been progress in terms of a growth of people's knowledge of the game and a feeling that the women's game…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-solo/i-think-there-has-been-progress-in-terms-of-a-growth-of-people-s/) [Hope Solo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-solo/) > [I think we have made progress. There's no doubt about it, we have moved forward. But there's some essential, core thing that has not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-ensler/i-think-we-have-made-progress-there-s-no-doubt-about-it-we-have-moved/) [Eve Ensler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-ensler/) > [I'm not anti-progress, obviously, but I just think progress needs to be a broader thing than just the technology we can create; it's also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/i-m-not-anti-progress-obviously-but-i-just-think-progress-needs-to-be/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [Without imagination, I don't think there's any progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-lee-shetterly/without-imagination-i-don-t-think-there-s-any-progress/) [Margot Lee Shetterly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-lee-shetterly/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Good luck quotes > [“if you cannot control your hunger and appetite, good luck managing your blood chemistry, metabolism, waistline, and, in the bigger picture, the prospect of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-perlmutter/if-you-cannot-control-your-hunger-and-appetite-good-luck-managing/) [David Perlmutter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-perlmutter/) > [“Generally speaking, 99 percent of the time life is benign and supportive. The ego leads us to fixate on the 1 percent when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-richard-riso/generally-speaking-99-percent-of-the-time-life-is-benign-and/) [Don Richard Riso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-richard-riso/) > [“When Sebastian, cearly delighted to be treated like one of the guys, didn't move, Alex bared his teeth. " Depeche-toi! " Sebastian depeched. Alex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-jensen/when-sebastian-cearly-delighted-to-be-treated-like-one-of-the-guys/) [Melissa Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-jensen/) > [I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest who complained of bad luck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/i-never-knew-an-early-rising-hard-working-prudent-man-careful-of-his/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Retweet this and you'll have good luck and happiness for the rest of the day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-lush/retweet-this-and-you-ll-have-good-luck-and-happiness-for-the-rest-of/) [Matthew Lush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-lush/) > [Worst thing in the world? John is completely out of it. Good luck, ladies. He's a freak!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mandy-moore/worst-thing-in-the-world-john-is-completely-out-of-it-good-luck/) [Mandy Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mandy-moore/) > [Good luck is the gayest of all gay girls; Long in one place, she will not stay:](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton-hay/good-luck-is-the-gayest-of-all-gay-girls-long-in-one-place-she-will/) John Milton Hay > [Instead of just being the person that's like: 'Gosh, that's cool that people are doing stuff and good luck. Do you need me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-mendoza/instead-of-just-being-the-person-that-s-like-gosh-that-s-cool-that/) [Jessica Mendoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-mendoza/) > [Dear you have always been doing well; if you will keep on going you will meet your destination. Good luck to you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-nishah/dear-you-have-always-been-doing-well-if-you-will-keep-on-going-you/) [Hussein Nishah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-nishah/) > [Epitaphs are cheap, and they do a poor chap a world of good after he is dead, especially if he had hard luck while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/epitaphs-are-cheap-and-they-do-a-poor-chap-a-world-of-good-after-he/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [\[It is hard to know what is good luck and what isn't and therefore whether we should be happy or sad about it. Only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zelig-pliskin/it-is-hard-to-know-what-is-good-luck-and-what-isn-t-and-therefore/) [Zelig Pliskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zelig-pliskin/) > [Rain Of Summer, Snow Of Winter, Grace Of Autumn, Glory Of Spring, May Beauty Of Every Season, Give Ur Heart A Beautiful Reason 2…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babloo/rain-of-summer-snow-of-winter-grace-of-autumn-glory-of-spring-may/) [Babloo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babloo/) > [“First, there’s no princess and then even mushrooms don’t want to listen to him talk. 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He considered it his duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/shortly-after-the-war-valentin-had-come-into-a-little-money-and-had/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) Browse all 926 Good luck quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I'm just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave's a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. 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