It was as simple as that - they met. As simple as only beautiful things can be beautiful, as only life-changing things, turning-point things, can be simple. ("For The Rest Of Her Life")
Cornell WoolrichRead
I turned away from him and went on my way, up the street and about my business. The past was dead. The future was resignation, fatality, and could only end one way now. The present was numbness, that could feel nothing. Like Novocaine needled into your heart. What was there in all the dimensions of time for me? ("Life Is Weird Sometimes" first chapter of unpublished novel THE LOSER)
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a sense of despair and numbness regarding time and existence, illustrating a struggle with the past, present, and future.
In this quote, Cornell Woolrich portrays a deep existential crisis where the speaker feels utterly detached from all dimensions of time. The past is perceived as lifeless, the future is bleak and resigned, and the present is characterized by an overwhelming numbness that leaves no room for hope or feeling. This sense of emotional void is likened to Novocaine, a numbing agent, injecting a powerful metaphor for the speaker's heartache and disconnection from life.
Themes
DespairNumbnessExistentialismTimeDetachment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming life's challenges.
More from Cornell Woolrich
All quotes →Each unto himself has his own world that he looks out upon, and though someone else were to stand on the very selfsame inch of ground your feet were placed upon, guided by chalk marks, he would not see the same things you did.
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As for her perfume, it was the kind you only noticed after she'd left a room, not while she was still in it. Even then you didn't realize it was perfume, you only wondered what had made you think of her just then.
Cornell WoolrichRead
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