Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Graham GreeneRead
Eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absence of time, and sometimes it seemed to me that her abandonment touched that strange mathematical point of endlessness, a point with no width, occupying no space.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Eternity is more about the absence of time than a continuation of it, particularly in the context of loss.
Graham Greene's quote explores the concept of eternity as not merely an infinite extension of time but rather a state beyond temporal existence, where time loses its meaning. The phrase highlights how experiences of loss, such as abandonment, can evoke a deep sense of timelessness, suggesting that certain emotions and states of being can transcend the ordinary flow of time, creating a conceptually endless moment that holds significance beyond physical space or duration.
Themes
EternityTimeAbsenceLossAbandonmentPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the nature of love and loss, this quote can inspire reflection on how we experience time in emotional states.
More from Graham Greene
All quotes →It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
Graham GreeneRead
God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
Graham GreeneRead
Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
Graham GreeneRead
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Graham GreeneRead
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
Graham GreeneRead
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