When I have one martini, I feel bigger, wiser, taller. When I have a second, I feel superlative. When I have more, there's no holding me.
William FaulknerRead
In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep you are not. And when you are filled with sleep, you never were. I don't know what I am. I don't know if I am or not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the nature of existence and identity through the metaphor of sleep.
William Faulkner's quote delves into the complexities of self-awareness and existence. It suggests that in moments of vulnerability, such as sleep, our understanding of self becomes blurred, leading to profound questions about who we are and whether we truly exist in a meaningful way. The repetition and questioning reflect a deep introspection about identity, consciousness, and the transient nature of being.
Themes
ExistenceIdentitySleepConsciousnessIntrospection
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about identity, this quote can illustrate the complexities of self-awareness.
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When grown people speak of the innocence of children, they dont really know what they mean. Pressed, they will go a step further and say, Well, ignorance then. The child is neither. There is no crime which a boy of eleven had not envisaged long ago. His only innocence is, he may not be old enough to desire the fruits of it...his ignorance is, he does not know how to commit it...
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Maybe times are never strange to women: it is just one continuous monotonous thing full of the repeated follies of their menfolks.
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He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that any more than for pride or fear....One day I was talking to Cora. She prayed for me because she believed I was blind to sin, wanting me to kneel and pray too, because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.
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Ever since then I have believed that God is not only a gentleman and a sport; he is a Kentuckian too.
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