Once you have been in an earthquake you know, even if you survive without a scratch, that like a stroke in the heart, it remains in the earth's breast, horribly potential, always promising to return, to hit you again, with an even more devastating force.
Interpretation
Surviving an earthquake leaves a lasting impression of its potential dangers, reminiscent of deep-seated fears.
This quote by Salman Rushdie captures the profound psychological impact that experiencing an earthquake can have on a person's consciousness. Even if one escapes physically unharmed, the fear and anxiety about the unpredictable power of nature linger on, suggesting that such an experience changes one’s perception of safety and vulnerability in the world around them. The metaphor of the earth 'breast' holding a 'stroke in the heart' implies a deep connection between humanity and nature's potential for destruction, reminding us that the threat may always exist beneath the surface, ready to resurface with possibly greater intensity.
In practice
In a lecture about natural disasters, one could use this quote to emphasize the psychological effects of surviving disasters.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
No tribal rite has yet been recorded which attempts to keep winter from descending; on the contrary: the rites all prepare the community to endure, together with the rest of nature, the season of the terrible cold.
Gardening is not a rational act.
Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call. Wanted to sail upon your waters, since I was three feet tall. You've seen it all, you've seen it all. Watched the men who rode you, switch from sails to steam. In your belly, you hold the treasure that few have ever seen, most of them dreams, most of them dreams.
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