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He used this great, sad, motionless face to suggest various related things: a one-track mind near the track's end of pure insanity; mulish imperturbability under the wildest of circumstances; how dead a human being can get and still be alive . . .
James Agee
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the profound and often contradictory nature of human existence, highlighting the thin line between sanity and insanity.

James Agee's quote delves into the complexity of human emotions and states of being. It suggests that a person can exhibit a facade of calmness while experiencing intense internal struggles, illustrating the paradox of existing in a world where individuals can seem dead inside yet remain physically alive. This observation prompts a contemplation of the depth of human experience, particularly in the face of overwhelming circumstances.

Themes

Human ExistenceSanityInsanityEmotionDepthExperience

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the complexities of mental health, one might refer to this quote to emphasize the struggle between appearing calm and experiencing turmoil.

More from James Agee

Isn’t every human being both a scientist and an artist; and in writing of human experience, isn’t there a good deal to be said for recognizing that fact and for using both methods?
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And no matter what, there's not one thing in this world *or* the next that we can do or hope or guess at or wish or pray that can change it or help it one iota. Because whatever is, is. That's all. And all there is now is to be ready for it, strong enough for it, whatever it may be. That's all. That's all that matters. It's all that matters because it's all that's possible.
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In every child who is born, no matter what circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again: and in him, too, once more, and of each of us, our terrific responsibility toward human life; toward the utmost idea of goodness, of the horror of terror, and of God.
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It is a peculiar part of the good photographer's adventure to know where luck is most likely to lie in the stream, to hook it, and to bring it in without unfair play and without too much subduing it.
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For in the immediate world, everything is to be discerned, for him who can discern it, and central and simply, without either dissection into science, or digestion into art, but with the whole of consciousness, seeking to perceive it as it stands: so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all of consciousness is shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiation of what is.
James AgeeRead
By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.
James AgeeRead

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