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

It is an absurd law [Section 295A of the Indian penal code] but also extremely dangerous because it gives fanatics, whether they are Hindus, Catholics or Muslims, a licence to be offended. It also allows people who are in dispute with you to make up false accusations of blasphemy.
Richard DawkinsRead
When you accept everything for what it is without labels you are outside of your ego.
Eckhart TolleRead
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.
EuripidesRead
Ironically, it is when we identify with our spirits rather than our bodies that we are most powerful on the material plane. Our overidentification with the world does not give us power within the world so much as it diminishes our power here. It makes us frightened and nervous and full of anxiety.
Marianne WilliamsonRead
The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.
Martin LutherRead
And I saw that truly nothing happens by accident or luck, but everything by God's wise providence. If it seems to be accident or luck from our point of view, our blindness and lack of foreknowledge is the cause; for matters that have been in God's foreseeing wisdom since before time began befall us suddenly, all unawares; and so in our blindness and ignorance we say that this is accident or luck, but to our Lord God it is not so.
Julian Of NorwichRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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