Friendship Quote by Stephen King
““I remembered talking with a writer friend who lived in Otisfield and supported his wife and two kids by raising chickens and turning out one paperback original a year — spy stories. We had gotten talking about the bulge in popularity of books concerning themselves with the supernatural. Gault pointed out that in the forties Weird Tales had only been able to pay a pittance, and then in the fifties it went broke. When the machines fail, he had said (while his wife candled eggs and roosters crowed querulously outside), when the technologies fail, when the conventional religious systems fail, people have got to have something. Even a zombie lurching through the night can seem pretty cheerful compared to the existential comedy/horror of the ozone layer dissolving under the combined assault of a million fluorocarbon spray cans of deodorant.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New York Times, 2018
When traditional structures collapse, people turn to fantastical narratives to cope with existential threats.
In simple terms: People seek fantasy when reality feels bleak.
Key Takeaway
Embrace creative outlets in crisis.
Themes
existential dread
fantasy
culture
technology
environment
Mood
reflective
thoughtful
critical
Type
literary
observational
analytical
When to use this quote
- personal crisis
- environmental activism
- creative writing
- media consumption
Key Concepts
apocalyptic anxiety
mythmaking
social coping
Questions to Reflect On
- How do stories shape our response to real crises?
- What role does humor play in confronting doom?
A Different Perspective
Fantasy can oversimplify complex problems.
![“Do you really want to know why I'm doing all this goodwill, and why I'm an ambassador for Habitat for Humanity and why I gave a million to [relief efforts for Hurricane] Katrina? It's because I feel guilty about the huge hole in the ozone layer my haircuts created. It's my responsibility to right…” quote by Jon Bon Jovi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a95/jon-bon-jovi-2929_ambassadors_do-you-really-want-to-know-why-i-m-doing_475915.jpg)
