I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience.
Zbigniew HerbertRead
Inanimate objects are always correct and cannot, unfortunately, be reproached with anything. I have never observed a chair shift from one foot to another, or a bed rear on its hind legs. And tables, even when they are tired, will not dare to bend their knees. I suspect that objects do this from pedagogical considerations, to reprove us constantly for our instability.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Inanimate objects exemplify unwavering stability, serving as a reflection of human inconsistency.
Zbigniew Herbert's quote highlights the unchanging nature of inanimate objects, contrasting them with the inherent instability of human behavior. Through the metaphor of furniture, he underscores how objects remain steadfast and uncomplaining, prompting us to reflect on our own fluctuations and shortcomings in stability and reliability.
Themes
StabilityInanimate ObjectsHuman BehaviorReflectionChange
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire a discussion on personal growth during a philosophy class.
More from Zbigniew Herbert
All quotes →Be courageous when the mind deceives you Be courageous In the final account only this is important
Zbigniew HerbertRead
And if the City falls and one survives _x000D_ he shall carry the City within on the roads of exile _x000D_ he shall be the City
Zbigniew HerbertRead
forgive me also that I didn't fight like Lord Byron for the happiness of captive peoples that I watched only risings of the moon and museums
Zbigniew HerbertRead
Similar quotes
Life on board a pleasure steamer violates every moral and physical condition of healthy life except fresh air. . . . It is a guzzling, lounging, gambling, dog's life. The only alternative to excitement is irritability.
George Bernard ShawRead
When a war is won, it's the losers, not the winners, who are liberated.
Romain GaryRead
Human kind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible that a mass is improved by the improvement of only one part and the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains and the other half can soar into skies?
Mustafa Kemal AtaturkRead
Today I felt pass over me A breath of wind from the wings of madness.
Charles BaudelaireRead
There's nothing like impending death to rouse you from existential boredom.
Roger EbertRead
Physically there is nothing to distinguish human society from the farm-yard except that children are more troublesome and costly than chickens and calves and that men and women are not so completely enslaved as farm stock.
George Bernard ShawRead