There are horrors beyond life's edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man's evil prying calls them just within our range.
H. P. LovecraftRead
It is good to be a cynic - it is better to be a contented cat - and it is best not to exist at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the value of skepticism and contentment, suggesting that not existing might be the ultimate state.
H. P. Lovecraft's quote presents a cynical view of existence, contrasting the attitudes of a cynic and a contented cat. The mention of a cynic suggests a critical perspective on life, where one questions the motives and authenticity of others. In contrast, a contented cat symbolizes a more peaceful state of being, indifferent to the complexities of life. Ultimately, the statement implies that complete non-existence is even more desirable than grappling with such contradictions, highlighting the existential struggles inherent in being alive.
Themes
CynicismContentmentExistencePhilosophyLife
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophical debate on the nature of existence.
More from H. P. Lovecraft
All quotes →I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.
H. P. LovecraftRead
The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.
H. P. LovecraftRead
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
H. P. LovecraftRead
I am, indeed, an absolute materialist so far as actual belief goes; with not a shred of credence in any form of supernaturalism—religion, spiritualism, transcendentalism, metempsychosis, or immortality.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Similar quotes
In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will? If conscious experience were reduced somehow to mere matter in motion, what would happen to our appreciation of love and pain and dreams and joy? If conscious human beings were just animated material objects, how could anything we do to them be right or wrong?
Daniel DennettRead
Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.
Thomas AquinasRead
Am I motivated by what I really want out of life - or am I mass-motivated?
Earl NightingaleRead
The Buddha resides as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain.
Robert M. PirsigRead
Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards
Eric HolderRead