"Those who speak of our culture as dead or dying have a quarrel with life, and I think they cannot understand its terms, but must endlessly repeat the projection of their own desires"

This quote by Muriel Rukeyser speaks with the idea that those who slam a culture as dead or dying are in fact projecting their own desires onto the culture. They are not able to accept the terms of life, and rather of understanding the culture, they are stuck in a cycle of duplicating their own desires. This suggests that those who criticize a culture are not really engaging with it, but rather are attempting to enforce their own worths and beliefs onto it. This quote is a pointer that we ought to strive to comprehend a culture before we evaluate it, and that we should be open to the terms of life. It is only through understanding and approval that we can genuinely appreciate a culture and its values.