QuoteProject
And in that fraction of a second before anything actually happened, Santino Corleone knew he was a dead man.
Mario Puzo
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the inevitable awareness of one's fate in a moment of impending danger.

In this quote from Mario Puzo, the character Santino Corleone experiences a profound realization of his mortality in a fleeting moment just before a significant event unfolds. This awareness highlights the existential awareness of life and death, illustrating how quickly life can change and the clarity one can find in moments of crisis, leading to deeper reflections on human existence and vulnerability.

Themes

MortalityFateAwarenessCrisisExistence

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about facing fears, you could quote this when talking about the awareness of danger.

More from Mario Puzo

Yet, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. If i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.
Mario PuzoRead
I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.
Mario PuzoRead
He had long ago learned that society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a time when the most humble of men, if he keeps his eyes open, can take his revenge on the most powerful.
Mario PuzoRead
Actions defined a man; words were a fart in the wind
Mario PuzoRead
A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
Mario PuzoRead
I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.
Mario PuzoRead

Similar quotes

The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual; everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced by his effort.
Ayn RandRead
If cows and horses had hands and could draw, cows would draw gods that look like cows and horses would draw gods that look like horses.
XenophanesRead
Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to the dust.
Marcus AureliusRead
Where there is no conflict, there is no fault.
LaoziRead
Jesus doesn’t dominate the other, avoid the other, colonize the other, intimidate the other, demonize the other, or marginalize the other. He incarnates into the other, joins the other in solidarity, protects the other, listens to the other, serves the other, even lays down his life for the other.
Brian D. MclarenRead
Divinity is not something supernatural that ever and again invades the natural order in a crashing miracle. Divinity is not in some remote heaven, seated on a throne. Divinity is love. . . . Wherever goodness, beauty, truth, love, are-there is the divine.
Harry Emerson FosdickRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.