QuoteProject
I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
Thomas Hardy
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote expresses deep despair and a wish to escape existence altogether.

Thomas Hardy's quote encapsulates a profound sense of existential despair, where the speaker reflects on the burdens of life and the desire for non-existence. It reveals a poignant struggle with identity and meaning, emphasizing the weight of suffering that can make life seem unbearable to some individuals.

Themes

DespairExistenceMeaningSufferingLife

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about the philosophical aspects of life and existence.

More from Thomas Hardy

Everybody must be managed. Queens must be managed. Kings must be managed, for men want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good deal.
Thomas HardyRead
Because what's the use of learning that I am one of a long row only - finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me, and to know that I shall only act her part; making me sad, that's all. The best is not to remember your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands' and thousands', and that your coming life and doings'll be like thousands' and thousands'.
Thomas HardyRead
But nothing is more insidious than the evolution of wishes from mere fancies, and of wants from mere wishes.
Thomas HardyRead
Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch herβ€”doubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.
Thomas HardyRead
The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven't they? -that is, seem as if they had. And the river says,-'Why do ye trouble me with your looks?' And you seem to see numbers of to-morrows just all in a line, the first of them the biggest and clearest, the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand further away; but they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said, 'I'm coming! Beware of me! Beware of me!
Thomas HardyRead
Of course poets have morals and manners of their own, and custom is no argument with them.
Thomas HardyRead

Similar quotes

I can't think of a more wonderful thanksgiving for the life I've had than that everyone should be jolly at my funeral.
Lord MountbattenRead
The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.
Pema ChodronRead
How could somebody be comfortable with authorizing legally the use of lethal force? My view is if you become comfortable with it, then you should get out of the job.
Jeh JohnsonRead
Optimists and pessimists die the exact same death, but they live very different lives!
Shimon PeresRead
This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.
Daniel KahnemanRead
The moment you give up your principles, and your values, you are dead, your culture is dead, your civilization is dead. Period.
Oriana FallaciRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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