You live in a deranged age, more deranged that usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.
Walker PercyRead
There is no pain on this earth like seeing the same woman look at another man the way she once looked at you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the deep emotional pain of witnessing a loved one express affection for someone else.
Walker Percy captures the intense feelings of jealousy and heartache that arise from seeing a former lover show affection to another person. It reflects the profound vulnerability involved in romantic relationships, highlighting how deeply personal connections can lead to anguish when they are changed or lost.
Themes
PainJealousyLoveHeartbreakRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the complexities of love.
More from Walker Percy
All quotes βThey all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide. What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit. But if I could not kill myself -- ah then, I would. I can do without nembutal or murder mysteries but not without suicide.
Walker PercyRead
It is possible, however, that the artist is both thin-skinned and prophetic and, like the canary lowered into the mine shaft to test the air, has caught a whiff of something lethal.
Walker PercyRead
Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?
Walker PercyRead
We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away.
Walker PercyRead
Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.
Walker PercyRead
Similar quotes
And what if I never go of my own free will? Will you pitch me from some window so that I must fly or fall? Will you bolt all shutters after me? You had better, because I'll knock and knock and knock until I fall down dead. I'll have no wings that take me away from you.
Anne RiceRead
The girl was grateful to the young man for every bit of flattery; she wanted to linger for a moment in its warmth and so she said, 'You're very good at lying.' 'Do I look like a liar?' 'You look like you enjoy lying to women,' said the girl, and into her words there crept unawares a touch of the old anxiety, because she really did believe that her young man enjoyed lying to women.
Milan KunderaRead
Marriage has no guarantees. If that's what you're looking for, go live with a car battery.
Erma BombeckRead
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.
George EliotRead
I was young I was so young it hurt like a knife inside because there was no alternative except to hide as long as possible--- not in self-pity but with dismay at my limited chance: trying to connect.
Charles BukowskiRead
Domestic violence does not only happen to adults. Forty percent of girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend, and approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and sexually abused by a dating partner.
Dianne FeinsteinRead