To desire to write poems that endure-we undertake such a goal certain of two things: that in all likelihood we will fail, and if we succeed we will never know it
Donald HallRead
We made in those days tiny identical rooms inside our bodies which the men who uncover our graves will find in a thousand years shining and whole.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the permanence of our experiences and the remnants we leave behind after death.
Donald Hall's quote suggests that our bodies hold within them the memories and experiences of our lives, represented as 'tiny identical rooms.' These rooms symbolize the essence of who we were, which will endure even after we are gone. The imagery of men uncovering our graves in the future evokes the idea that, despite the passage of time, the fundamental aspects of our existence will remain intact and resonate with future generations.
Themes
MemoriesIdentityLegacyExistenceTime
In practice
Example use cases
During a eulogy, to emphasize the lasting impact of the deceased's life.
More from Donald Hall
All quotes βSimilar quotes
Necessity is the strongest of things, for it rules everything.
ThalesRead
In that moment Ged understood the singing of the bird, and the language of the water falling in the basin of the fountain, and the shape of the clouds, and the beginning and end of the wind that stirred the leaves; it seemed to him that he himself was a word spoken by the sunlight.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life.
Hermann HesseRead
Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose.
Ulysses S. GrantRead
The masters of information have forgotten about poetry, where words may have a meaning quite different from what the lexicon says, where the metaphoric spark is always one jump ahead of the decoding function, where another, unforeseen reading is always possible.
J. M. CoetzeeRead
No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between a man and a plot of land.
Henry FordRead