QuoteProject
Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life's nothingness.
Andre Maurois
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

People are afraid of silence and solitude because they reveal the emptiness of life.

This quote suggests that silence and solitude serve as mirrors to our inner thoughts, exposing the existential fears and anxieties we may have about the meaning of life. The discomfort associated with these states highlights humanity's struggle with the inherent emptiness and profound questions that life presents when stripped of distraction and noise.

Themes

SilenceSolitudeFearExistenceEmptinessLife

In practice

Example use cases

During a meditation session, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of embracing silence.

More from Andre Maurois

The greedy search for money or success will almost always lead men into unhappiness. Why? Because that kind of life makes them depend upon things outside themselves.
Andre MauroisRead
It is better to teach a few things perfectly than many things indifferently...
Andre MauroisRead
Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.
Andre MauroisRead
We can talk frankly about our defects only to those who recognise our qualities.
Andre MauroisRead
If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.
Andre MauroisRead
A man cannot free himself from the past more easily than he can from his own body.
Andre MauroisRead

Similar quotes

He who aims at making an entire and perfect oblation of himself, in addition to his will, must offer his understanding, which is a further and the highest degree of obedience.
Saint IgnatiusRead
If I shall exist eternally, how shall I exist tomorrow?
Franz KafkaRead
In a world where ideas and ideals flow freely, we want what everybody else in an advanced society seems to have: a say in our future.
Joshua WongRead
Psychologism is, I believe, correct only in so far as it insists upon what may be called 'methodological individualism' as opposed to 'methodological collectivism'; it rightly insists that the 'behaviour' and the 'actions' of collectives, such as states or social groups, must be reduced to the behaviour and to the actions of human individuals. But the belief that the choice of such an individualist method implies the choice of a psychological method is mistaken.
Karl PopperRead
Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can say about it: It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide and seek and think that no one can see them.
Sogyal RinpocheRead
If you're living with a scientist, you see the world differently than you do with a humanist. It's in some ways very subtle, the differences in perceiving reality.
Joyce Carol OatesRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.