Now the standard cure for one who is sunk is to consider those in actual destitution or physical suffering—this is an all-weather beatitude for gloom in general and fairly salutary day-time advice for everyone. But at three o’clock in the morning, a forgotten package has the same tragic importance as a death sentence, and the cure doesn’t work—and in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that during our darkest moments, we struggle to find solace or perspective even when we know others suffer more.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects the experience of deep personal despair, emphasizing how, in moments of profound emotional distress—such as in the solitude of early morning—our own troubles can feel overwhelming and significant, regardless of their objective severity. While logical reasoning might suggest focusing on the suffering of others could alleviate our own sadness, the intensity of our feelings can make that compassion difficult to access during our darkest hours.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming personal struggles, this quote can illustrate the depth of despair many experience.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.
There's a terror in knowing what the world is about
I had four hundred thousand pages of continental philosophy and lit theory in my head. And by God, I was going to use it to prove to him that I was smarter than he was.
Like dear St. Francis of Assisi I am wedded to Poverty: but in my case the marriage is not a success.
How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people for whom everything works out.
And now, farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude... I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.
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