Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release.
Georg SimmelRead
In the immediate as well as the symbolic sense, in the physical as well as the intellectual sense, we are at any moment those who separate the connected, or connect the separate.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the duality of human perception and action in both tangible and abstract realms.
Georg Simmel's quote emphasizes the dynamic nature of human experience, where we constantly navigate between connecting disparate elements and separating those that are inherently linked. This interplay occurs on both physical and intellectual levels, suggesting that our understanding and interaction with the world are shaped by how we choose to categorize and perceive relationships between different entities.
Themes
PerceptionConnectionUnderstandingRelationshipsReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing human perception and reality.
More from Georg Simmel
All quotes →Secrecy is thus, so to speak, a transition stadium between being and not-being.
Georg SimmelRead
Music and love are the only accomplishments of humanity which do not, in an absolute sense, have to be called attempts with unsuitable means.
Georg SimmelRead
Discretion is nothing other than the sense of justice with respect to the sphere of the intimate contents of life.
Georg SimmelRead
For the division of labor demands from the individual an ever more one-sided accomplishment, and the greatest advance in a one-sided pursuit only too frequently means dearth to the personality of the individual.
Georg SimmelRead
By my existence I am nothing more than an empty place, an outline,that is reserved within being in general. Given with it, though, is the duty to fill in this empty place. That is my life.
Georg SimmelRead
Similar quotes
Represent to yourself a dark city all burning and stinking with fire and brimstone. The damned are in the depth of hell within this woful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments in all their senses and members. Consider above all the eternity of their pains, which above all things makes hell intolerable.
Saint Francis De SalesRead
A dance is the devil's procession, and he that entereth into a dance, entereth into his possession.
Saint Francis De SalesRead
"Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls."
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
To all earth's creatures God has given the broad earth, the springs, the rivers and the forests, giving the air to the birds, and the waters to those who live in water, giving abundantly to all the basic needs of life, not as a private possession, not restricted by law, not divided by boundaries, but as common to all, amply and in rich measure.
Gregory Of NazianzusRead
Swlmmlng After swallowing some water at Changsha I taste a Wuchang fish in the surf and swim across the Yangtze River that winds ten thousand li. I see the entire Chu sky. Wind batters me, waves hit me-I don't care. Better than walking lazily in the patio. Today I have a lot of time. Here on the river the Master said "Dying-dying into the past-is like a river flowing."
Mao ZedongRead
Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead