Secrecy is thus, so to speak, a transition stadium between being and not-being.
Georg SimmelRead
Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Secrecy creates a buildup of tension that is resolved when the secret is revealed.
Georg Simmel's quote highlights the inherent tension that secrecy creates in relationships and society. When a secret is kept, the anticipation or anxiety surrounding it grows, and once it is finally disclosed, that buildup is released, often leading to a profound change in dynamics, understanding, or emotions among those involved.
Themes
SecrecyTensionRevelationRelationshipsDynamics
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a discussion on trust in relationships.
More from Georg Simmel
All quotes →Music and love are the only accomplishments of humanity which do not, in an absolute sense, have to be called attempts with unsuitable means.
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Discretion is nothing other than the sense of justice with respect to the sphere of the intimate contents of life.
Georg SimmelRead
In the immediate as well as the symbolic sense, in the physical as well as the intellectual sense, we are at any moment those who separate the connected, or connect the separate.
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For the division of labor demands from the individual an ever more one-sided accomplishment, and the greatest advance in a one-sided pursuit only too frequently means dearth to the personality of the individual.
Georg SimmelRead
By my existence I am nothing more than an empty place, an outline,that is reserved within being in general. Given with it, though, is the duty to fill in this empty place. That is my life.
Georg SimmelRead
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