Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Graham GreeneRead
It's strange how the human mind swings back and forth, from one extreme to another. Does truth lie at some point of the pendulum's swing, at a point where it never rests, not in the dull perpendicular mean where it dangles in the end like a windless flag, but at an angle, nearer one extreme than another? If only a miracle could stop the pendulum at an angle of sixty degrees, one would believe the truth was there.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that truth may lie not in a balanced middle ground but rather closer to one extreme of thought, reflecting the complexities of human perception.
Graham Greene's quote explores the nature of truth as it relates to human thought and perception. He uses the metaphor of a pendulum to illustrate how our minds often swing between extremes, implying that the pursuit of truth is not found in a static, neutral position but instead exists in the dynamic tension of our thoughts, closer to one extreme than another. Greene suggests that achieving a static understanding of truth may be as elusive as stopping a pendulum at a specific angle, highlighting the complexity and fluidity of our understanding.
Themes
TruthPerceptionPhilosophyExtremesMind
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussion on the nature of truth.
More from Graham Greene
All quotes →It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
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God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
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Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
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Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
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Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
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