Quotes About Existence

Nevin, A. M. The Social Mirror: A Character Sketch of the Women of Pittsburgh and Vicinity during the First Century of the County's Existence. Pittsburgh, PA: T. W. Nevin, 1888.

What you think of as the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind, of a former Now. . . . Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is 'borrowed' from the Now.

whereas "I" persist with the fire. born movement the appearance is self-less

Perhaps my sense of reality is not very highly developed, perhaps I lack a sound and reassuring instinct for the solid facts of our earthly existence; I can't always tell memories from dreams, and often I mistake dreams, coming to life again in colours, smells, sudden associations, with the eerie secret certainty of a past life from which time and space divide me no differently and no better than a light sleep in the early hours.

Ich weiß nicht, wie ich ein Gestern ertragen habe, und ein Vorgestern, und die vielen Tage, die sich noch rückwärts reihen.

Here on earth, discover what you are, what your existence is, and how swiftly flees your span of life from time to eternity. For after you are gone, your deeds will speak louder than when you lived.

Life is an illusion that last too little.

Ja, liebe Klara: Es ist sehr, sehr gefährlich, auch nur einen Tag zu leben.

Death cannot touch the higher consciousness of man ... it can only separate those who love each other so far as their lower vehicles are concerned; the man living on earth, blinded by matter, feels separated from those who have passed onwards, but ... there is no such thing as Death at all.

Heaven is not far away from us, but surrounds us on every side, and we are shut out from it by our incapacity to feel its vibrations, not their absence.

The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.

Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what's going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.

We scribbled down writers' reflections on life, discovered the joys of describing ourselves to ourselves with shimmering turns of phrase, 'existence is to drink oneself without thirst.' We were overcome by nausea and a feeling of the absurd.

Todas as imagens irão desaparecer. (...) Vão desperecer todas de uma só vez como aconteceu com milhares de imagens situadas atrás dos rostos dos avós mortos há meio século, dos pais também eles já mortos. (...) Subitamente, desaparecerão milhares de palavras que serviram para nomear as coisa, os rostos das pessoas, as ações e os sentimentos, para pôr ordem no mundo, para fazer bater o coração e humedecer o sexo.

Peut-être sa plus grande fierté, ou même, la justification de son existence: que j'appartienne au monde qui l'avaint dédaigné.

In the humdrum routine of personal existence, History did not matter. We were simply happy or unhappy, depending on the day. The more immersed we were in work and family, said to be reality, the greater was our sense of unreality.

Sous mes pas s'ouvre l'énormité du gouffre de l'inconnu : la petite pièce que j'ai dû être dans son existence

L'interminable lenteur d'un temps qui s'épaississait sans avancer, comme celui des rêves.

9 h 25. Je le savais, mais tant que les choses ne sont pas dites (ou écrites : en littérature, sans détours, ni allusions), elles n'existent pas.

que les procuraba, inmediatamente, sin esfuerzo, la adquisición de las cosas: un suplemento de existencia.

Est-ce une vie ? Oui, sans doute, cela vaut mieux que le vide.

Peut-être sa plus grande fierté, ou même, la justification de son existence : que j'appartienne au monde qui l'avait dédaigné.

Aucun autre projet d'écriture ne me paraît, non pas lumineux, ni nouveau, encore moins heureux, mais vital, capable de me faire vivre au-dessus du temps. Juste « profiter de la vie » est une perspective intenable, puisque chaque instant sans projet d'écriture ressemble au dernier.

Entre ce qui arrive dans le monde et ce qui lui arrive à elle, aucun point d'intersection, deux séries parallèles, l'une, abstraite, toute en informations aussitôt oubliées que perçues, l'autre en plans fixes.