Katharine Hepburn: Look Ahead
We are required, I think, to be polite and
considerate of others: This is a sort of social compact we have with
each other--and very few people honor it, I might add. I'll stay out of
your way, smiling all the time, and you stay out of mine. If I stumble
or my tire goes flat or I appear to be short of funds or food, I'll
happily drop by and help out. But, for the most part, you stay over
there and I'll stay over here. You'll learn as you live a bit longer
that there are very few people who are
really interested in who you are and what you're doing: That handful who
do care and who do want to see you do well are treasures. Hold them
very dear and very close to you. Forgive them almost anything. Be there
for them. But most of life is solitary and hard--you work and you study
and you fail and you do the damned things over and over again. And this
is your responsibility. Most people, as I've said, are stupid and lazy
and really only concerned with getting through the next couple of hours
with silliness and stimulation and something to eat. Be polite. Look
ahead. Ignore them. Do the work. Move forward.
Katharine
Hepburn/Interview with James Grissom/1990/Photograph by Norman
Parkinson, 1952/
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