QuoteProject
I myself, from the very beginning, Seemed to myself like someone's dream or delirium Or a reflection in someone else's mirror, Without flesh, without meaning, without a name. Already I knew the list of crimes That I was destined to commit.
Anna Akhmatova
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the nature of identity and existential angst, suggesting a feeling of being unreal or lacking true essence.

In this quote, Anna Akhmatova expresses a profound sense of alienation and introspection. She conveys feelings of being like an apparition, devoid of substance and individuality, as if perceiving herself through the distorted lens of another's perspective. This resonates with themes of existential dread where one contemplates their purpose and the weight of their predetermined fate, symbolized by the acknowledgment of the 'list of crimes' she anticipates committing.

Themes

IdentityExistentialismAlienationIntrospectionFate

In practice

Example use cases

During a literary discussion on existential themes, this quote can illustrate the feeling of disconnection from oneself.

More from Anna Akhmatova

Wild honey smells of freedom The dust - of sunlight The mouth of a young girl, like a violet But gold - smells of nothing.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
And you know, I agree to everything: I will condemn, I will forget, I will give comfort to the enemy, Darkness will be light and sin lovely.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
Who will grieve for this woman? Does she not seem too insignificant for our concern? Yet in my heart I never will deny her, Who suffered death because she chose to turn.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
If you were music I would listen to you ceaselessly And my low spirits would brighten up.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
Not, not mine: it's somebody else's wound; I could never have borne it. So take the thing that happened, hide it, stick it in the ground; whisk the lamps away.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
I know beginnings, I know endings too, and life-in-death, and something else I'd rather not recall just now.
Anna AkhmatovaRead

Similar quotes

One of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do.
Timothy KellerRead
There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman._x000D_ There is not even a rope to tow the boat, and no one to pull it._x000D_ There is no earth, no sky, no time, no thing, no shore, no ford!
KabirRead
Nothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies - their quick intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy.
Jules VerneRead
Whatever is silenced will clamor to be heard, though silently.
Margaret AtwoodRead
The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see.
Octavia E. ButlerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.