It was as if this night were only one of thousands of nights, world without end, night curving into night to make a great arching line of which I couldn’t see the end, a night in which I roamed alone under cold, mindless stars.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the timelessness and isolation of existence under the vastness of the universe.
In this quote, Anne Rice evokes a sense of infinite nights that stretch beyond comprehension, suggesting a profound isolation in the face of the universe's endlessness. The imagery of cold, mindless stars enhances the feeling of solitude and contemplation, highlighting the existential journey of an individual who wanders alone in a seemingly indifferent cosmos.
In practice
This quote can be used in a reflective essay about existentialism.
From my stone pillow I have dreamed dreams of the mortal world above. I have heard its voices, its new music, as lullabies as I lie in my grave. I have envisioned its fantastical discoveries. I have known its courage in the timeless sanctum of my thoughts. And though it shuts me out with its dazzling forms, I long for one with the strength to roam it fearlessly, to ride the Devil's Road through its heart.
We all suffer under a curse, the curse that we know more than we can endure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about the force and the lure of this knowledge.
And so this young one, this young one whom I had so loved, I had to forsake, no matter how broken my heart, no matter how lonely my soul, no matter how bruised my intellect and spirit.
Dear God, help me. Do not forget me on this tiny cinder lost in a galaxy that is lost–a heart no bigger than a speck of dust beating, beating against death, against meaninglessness, against guilt, against sorrow.
The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply.
In the very depths of Hell, do not demons love one another?
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!
To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.
Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collapse.
Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic
Children are born innocent. Before they are domesticated they live in the moment, love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
Begin with dhyana, with meditation, and end in samadhi, in ecstasy, and you will know what God is. It is not a hypothesis, it is an experience. You have to LIVE it - that is the only way to know it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.