There are horrors beyond life's edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man's evil prying calls them just within our range.
H. P. LovecraftRead
I could not help feeling that they were evil things-- mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss. That seething , half-luminous cloud-background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal beyondness far more than terrestrially spatial; and gave appalling reminders of the utter remoteness, separateness, desolation, and aeon-long death of this untrodden and unfathomed austral world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote evokes a sense of dread and contemplation regarding the unknown and the vastness of existence.
H. P. Lovecraft's quote reveals a profound unease about the mysteries of the universe, suggesting that some places and experiences evoke feelings of dread and isolation. It reflects on the idea that there are realms far beyond human comprehension, filled with unfathomable depths and a haunting beauty that reminds us of our own insignificance in the face of eternity.
Themes
MadnessMountainsAbyssMysteryUnknownExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about existential literature, this quote can be used to illustrate the themes of Lovecraft's writings.
More from H. P. Lovecraft
All quotes →I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.
H. P. LovecraftRead
The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.
H. P. LovecraftRead
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
H. P. LovecraftRead
I am, indeed, an absolute materialist so far as actual belief goes; with not a shred of credence in any form of supernaturalism—religion, spiritualism, transcendentalism, metempsychosis, or immortality.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Similar quotes
This was not guilt: guilt is what you feel when you have done something wrong. What I felt was shame: I was what was wrong.
Atul GawandeRead
People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.
Alan MooreRead
People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.
LaoziRead
As there is a use in medicine for poisons, so the world cannot move without rogues.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
In our own hearts, we mold the whole world's hereafters; and in our own hearts we fashion our own gods.
Herman MelvilleRead
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
C. S. LewisRead