Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark - spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It's passing, yet I'm the one who's doing all the moving.
Martin AmisRead
Oh Christ, the exhaustion of not knowing anything. It's so tiring and hard on the nerves. It really takes it out of you, not knowing anything. You're given comedy and miss all the jokes. Every hour you get weaker. Sometimes, as I sit alone in my flat in London and stare at the window, I think how dismal it is, how heavy, to watch the rain and not know why it falls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the weariness that comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding about the world.
In this quote, Martin Amis reflects on the mental and emotional exhaustion that stems from ignorance. He conveys a sense of despair that arises from not comprehending the fundamental aspects of life, symbolized by the simple yet profound question of why it rains. This struggle with knowledge and the feelings of isolation and melancholy associated with it highlight the importance of understanding and the toll that ignorance can take on an individual.
Themes
KnowledgeIgnoranceExhaustionUnderstandingMelancholy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of education and continuous learning.
More from Martin Amis
All quotes →You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other's otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full *contact* - all that?
Martin AmisRead
All my adult life I have been searching for the right adjective to describe my father's peculiarly aggressive comic style. I recently settled on 'defamatory.'
Martin AmisRead
Love is an abstract noun, something nebulous. And yet love turns out to be the only part of us that is solid, as the world turns upside down and the screen goes black.
Martin AmisRead
Jane was my wicked stepmother: she was generous, affectionate and resourceful; she salvaged my schooling and I owe her an unknowable debt for that. One flaw: sometimes, early on, she would tell me things designed to make me think less of my mother, and I would wave her away, saying, Jane, this just backfires and makes me think less of you.
Martin AmisRead
Don't dumb down; always write for your top five percent of readers.
Martin AmisRead
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