But what is Hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.
I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me: and to me High mountains are a feeling, but the hum of human cities torture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the idea that individual identity is shaped by the environment and experiences around us, emphasizing a preference for nature over urban life.
In this quote, Lord Byron expresses a profound connection between the self and the surrounding world, suggesting that personal identity is intertwined with external influences. He juxtaposes the majestic feeling of nature, symbolized by 'high mountains,' against the discomfort caused by urban life represented by 'the hum of human cities,' revealing his appreciation for nature's tranquility and beauty while critiquing the chaos of human-made environments.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a discussion on the impact of urbanization on mental health.
More from Lord Byron
All quotes βIt is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake.
For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?
Absence - that common cure of love.
Her great merit is finding out mine; there is nothing so amiable as discernment.
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
Similar quotes
Man is appealed to be guided in his acts, not merely by love, which is always personal, or at best tribal, but by his perception of his oneness with each human being. In the practice of mutual aid, which we can re-trace to the earliest beginnings of evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our ethical conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of man, mutual support- not mutual struggle- has had the leading part.
I would by all means have men beware, lest Γsop's pretty fable of the fly that sate [sic] on the pole of a chariot at the Olympic races and said, 'What a dust do I raise,' be verified in them. For so it is that some small observation, and that disturbed sometimes by the instrument, sometimes by the eye, sometimes by the calculation, and which may be owing to some real change in the heaven, raises new heavens and new spheres and circles.
Be ahead of all parting, as though it already were behind you.
I have nowhere claimed nor even implied that unbelief is a guarantee of good conduct or even an indicator of it.
It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth.
To hold an idea and convince ourselves we arrived at it rationally, we go in search of evidence to support our view.