God, how pointless and empty the world is! Days filled with cheap and tarnished moments succeed each other, restless and haunted nights follow in bitter routine: the sun shines without brightness, and the moon rises without light. My heart has the taste of ashes, and my throat is tight and weary with weeping. What is a lost soul? It is one that has turned from its true path and is groping in the darkness of remembered ways—
Interpretation
This quote reflects a profound sense of despair and disillusionment with life.
Malcolm Lowry expresses a deep existential crisis, portraying the world as a bleak and empty place devoid of joy and meaning. Through evocative imagery, he illustrates the struggle of a lost soul, one that has deviated from its true path, leading to feelings of isolation and despair amidst a dull existence. This emphasizes the importance of finding purpose and clarity in life to escape the haunting feelings of emptiness.
In practice
Sharing this quote during a discussion about existentialism at a philosophy club.
The Consul felt a pang. Ah, to have a horse, and gallop away, singing, to someone you loved perhaps, into the heart of all the simplicity and peace in the world; was that not like the opportunity afforded man by life itself? Of course not. Still, just for a moment, it had seemed that it was.
No, my secrets are of the grave and must be kept. And this is how I sometimes think of myself, as a great explorer who has discovered some extraordinary land from which he can never return to give his knowledge to the world: but the name of this land is hell.
Many might go to Heaven with half the labor they go to hell.
Where books are burned in the end people will be burned too.
Old events have modern meanings; only that survives of past history which finds kindred in all hearts and lives.
Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?
I put my head out of my window and see how much the wind’s knife wants to slice it off. On this unseen guillotine, I’ve placed the eyeless head of all my desires.
If at age 20 you are not a Communist then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are not a Capitalist then you have no brains.
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