How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
What did I, out of all this, want for myself? I couldn't have told you. (6.1)
Augie is like a soccer player who loves kicking the ball around the field but is oblivious to the goal. He gets the ball a lot, but he doesn't know where to take it.
Quote #2
But Mrs. Renling wanted me to become a rider and refine and school me in every way. […] She played terribly on my vanity. "I'll make you perfect," she said. "Completely perfect." (8.36-7)
Mr. and Mrs. Renling don't have children. They like Augie and want to adopt him. Mrs. Renling plays on Augie's vanity to try to convince him, but the goal serves her own vanity as well. Sounds a bit narcissistic, if you were to ask us.
Quote #3
And the unvarnished truth is that it wasn't a fate good enough for me, because that was what came out clearly when it became a question of my joining up. As son. (9.2)
Augie doesn't know exactly what he wants out of life, but he knows he doesn't want to settle for something less than "good enough," whatever that is. Trouble is, he doesn't know what that is.
Quote #4
I think Einhorn was disappointed and maybe even shocked; shocked, I mean, by his misjudgment of my fitness to follow him in his shooting trajectory into what a soul should be. (10.93)
Einhorn has high hopes for Augie and, for a while, makes some effort to steer him toward success. Why do you think Einhorn takes an interest in Augie? Why does he correct Augie's faults instead of ushering him out of his life?
Quote #5
"You better get wise to this. If people don't know what you qualify in they'll never know where to place you, and that can be dangerous. You have to get in there and do something for yourself. Even if you're just waiting, you have to know what you're waiting for, you have to specialize. (10.121)
Manny Padilla advises Augie to practice better social signaling. People who can employ him won't know how he can fit into their plans until Augie clearly communicates his own dreams and ambitions. They won't know if he's a good fit.
Quote #6
"I want money, and I mean want; and I can handle it. Those are my assets." (10.191)
For Simon, marrying into the Magnus family isn't his goal, but a touchstone. He intends to use the wealth he acquires to create more wealth of his own. We're not sure if this is ambitious or just plain selfish.
Quote #7
Left alone all night, he was vicious in the morning, and Thea was by now so wrapped up in his career that for the time very few considerations took precedence. Because she was making history.
Once the bird Caligula fails, Thea gives up on him and also on her dream of "making history." Augie doesn't give us the impression that Thea will someday try to get a replacement eagle. Maybe this is because Augie won't be with her. Maybe she thought Augie would buy into this venture, but others wouldn't. What do you think?
Quote #8
But I thought, What was wrong with the enjoyment of love, and what did there have to be an eagle for? (16.3)
Danger, Will Robinson! Before taking the road trip from Chicago to Mexico, maybe Augie should have taken a breath and figured out whether his dreams and Thea's dreams really matched. If he has to ask about the eagle, then he really isn't on the same page as Thea. Arguably, he's not even in love, because he hasn't really tried to understand her heart, and in the famous words of Selena Gomez, the heart wants what it wants.
Quote #9
I had yet to find out how little people want you to succeed in an extraordinary project, and what comfort some have that the negligible is upheld and all other great effort falls on its face. (16.113)
We wonder if Facebook would have brightened Augie's perception. The "likes" and words of affirmation he'd receive whenever he started on some new course might have warmed his heart. But maybe he'd secretly assume his followers all want a dislike button to press, or he'd feel a Fear of Missing Out and become even more aimless.
Quote #10
"I want to get myself a piece of property and settle down on it. Right here in Illinois would suit me fine, though I wouldn't object to Indiana or Wisconsin. (22.56)
Augie has finally decided on a dream, but whether he'll ever seek to make it a reality is another question. By the end of the novel, he hasn't taken any visible steps in this direction.