Logic is one thing, the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won't work out.
Luigi PirandelloRead
We're like so many puppets hung on the wall, waiting for someone to come and move us or make us talk.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people often feel like they lack control over their own lives, waiting for external forces to direct them.
Luigi Pirandello's quote speaks to the existential condition of human beings, likening individuals to puppets who are passive and dependent on external influences for action and expression. This metaphor captures the struggle between autonomy and determinism, highlighting the desire for agency and the often overwhelming feelings of being controlled by circumstances or societal expectations.
Themes
PuppetsControlExistenceAgencyInfluence
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about feeling lost in life, one might quote Pirandello to highlight ineffectiveness of waiting for change.
More from Luigi Pirandello
All quotes βWoe to him who doesn't know how to wear his mask, be he king or pope!
Luigi PirandelloRead
THE FATHER: But don't you see that the whole trouble lies here? In words, words. Each one of us has within him a whole world of things, each man of us his own special world. And how can we ever come to an understanding if I put in the words I utter the sense and value of things as I see them; while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand each other, but we never really do.
Luigi PirandelloRead
Whoever has the luck to be born a character can laugh even at death. Because a character will never die! A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die!
Luigi PirandelloRead
A fact is like a sack - it won't stand up if it's empty. To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place.
Luigi PirandelloRead
Anyone can be heroic from time to time, but a gentleman is something you have to be all the time.
Luigi PirandelloRead
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