I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Dying for dark — and the darker the Worse. Strange.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the experience of suffering can intensify in its darkness and complexity, leading to a deeper contemplation of existence.
In this quote, Samuel Beckett explores the profound depths of human suffering and darkness. The notion of 'dying for dark' implies a certain inevitability of confronting despair, while 'the darker the worse' underscores that these experiences can often become increasingly complex and heavy, challenging one's understanding and acceptance of life itself. It reflects a philosophy of existential inquiry, inviting us to engage with the darker aspects of our existence rather than shy away from them.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of life and mental health.
More from Samuel Beckett
All quotes →Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
Similar quotes
Because he (the Sage) opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.
Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with things the way they are, and make no room for personal views-then the world will be governed.
Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws.
Where there is no imagination there is no horror.
We can see nothing whatever of the soul unless it is visible in the expression of the countenance; one might call the faces at a large assembly of people a history of the human soul written in a kind of Chinese ideograms.
The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest "functionaire" possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose desecration it depends whether and how I am allowed to live or to work.