I am like a machine being driven to excessive rotations: the bearings are incandescing and, in a minute, melted metal will begin to drip and everything will turn to nothing. Quick: get cold water, logic. I am pouring it over myself by the bucketload but the logic sizzles on the hot bearings and dissipates elusive white steam into the air.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the struggle of maintaining rational thought amidst overwhelming pressure.
Yevgeny Zamyatin uses the metaphor of a machine to illustrate the human experience of being pushed to one’s limits. He conveys the idea that when faced with intense stress and emotional turmoil, even logic can fail to provide relief, evidenced by the 'sizzling' of cold water on hot bearings. The imagery suggests that without a break or cooling off, a person may reach a breaking point, leading to a sense of impending collapse.
In practice
In a motivational speech about stress management, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of taking breaks.
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Knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith.
Because men believe not in Providence, therefore they do so greedily scrape and hoard. They do not believe in any reward for charity, therefore they will part with nothing.
Now I know what a piece of bacon feels like when it is suddenly picked out of the pan on a fork and put back on the shelf!" "No you don't!" he heard Dori answering, "because the bacon knows that it will get back in the pan sooner or later; and it is to be hoped we shan't. Also eagles aren't forks!
I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.
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Someday you will die, and until you know that, you're useless to me.
Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
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