A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth reading.
Interpretation
Life is unpredictable, much like a story that unfolds with surprises until the end.
This quote by Yevgeny Zamyatin suggests that the journey of life is filled with uncertainty and unexpected twists, akin to reading a novel where the conclusion remains unknown until the final pages. It implies that the value of both life and literature lies in their unpredictability and the experiences that lead us to our eventual outcomes.
In practice
Using this quote in a graduation speech to highlight the unpredictable journey of life ahead.
The knife is the most durable, immortal, the most genius thing that man created. The knife was the guillotine; the knife is the universal means of solving all knots; and along the blade of a knife lies the path of paradox - the single most worthy path of the fearless mind.
Accentuated plainness and accentuated vice ought to bring about harmony. Beauty lies in harmony, in style, whether it be the harmony of ugliness or beauty, vice or virtue.
The world is kept alive only by heretics: the heretic Christ, the heretic Copernicus, the heretic Tolstoy. Our symbol of faith is heresy...
The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is - to bloom. (βA Story About The Most Important Thingβ)
Knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith.
You're in a bad way! Apparently, you have developed a soul.
Woe to him who doesn't know how to wear his mask, be he king or pope!
Just watching an animal closely can take you out of your mind and bring you into the present moment, which is where the animal lives all the time - surrendered to life.
...it is simplicity that is difficult to make.
The Church says the Earth is flat. But I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church.
All must admit that the reception of the teachings of Christ results in the purest patriotism, in the most scrupulous fidelity to public trust, and in the best type of citizenship.
You know Balbec so well - do you have friends in the area?' I have friends wherever there are companies of trees, wounded but not vanquished, which huddle together with touching obstinacy to implore an inclement and pitiless sky.' That is not what I meant,' interrupted my father, as obstinate as the trees and as pitiless as the sky.
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