I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Samuel BeckettRead
What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the uncertainty of human fate compared to the simplicity of understanding nature.
Samuel Beckett's quote highlights the complexity and unpredictability of human existence, suggesting that while we may be curious about our destinies, we often comprehend more tangible and simple concepts, like a radish. This comparison emphasizes the limitations of human knowledge and the challenges of grappling with profound questions about life and destiny.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the unpredictability of life at a philosophy seminar.
I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
To demand that a person pee in a cup whenever you wish him to, without a documented reason to suspect that he has been using an illegal drug, is intolerable in our republic. You are saying to him, "I wonder if you are not behaving in a way that I approve of. Convince me that you indeed are. Outrageous. Intolerable.
Five minutes are enough to dream a whole life, that is how relative time is.
Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation. It has nothing to do with the relation of the soul to God, or with mystic insight, or with any of the matters with which the more elevated and spiritual moralists are concerned.
It is hard not to see into the future, faced with today's blind architecture - a thousand times more stupid and more revolting than that of other ages. How bored we shall be inside!
The world has a soul and whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of many things.
You asked me once,' said O'Brien, 'what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.
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