The strongest guard is placed at the gateway to nothing. Maybe because the condition of emptiness is too shameful to be divulged.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that people often protect their vulnerabilities and emptiness, as revealing them can bring shame.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects on the nature of human emotions and the psychological barriers we set up to conceal our inner emptiness from the world. The metaphor of a 'strongest guard' highlights how often we guard our deepest insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, possibly because acknowledging them can lead to shame or judgment. It emphasizes the struggle many face in confronting and sharing their true selves, suggesting that what is often hidden behind emotional walls is a profound sense of vulnerability.
In practice
In a discussion about mental health, this quote can highlight the importance of acknowledging our vulnerabilities.
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.
Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you. Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you, remember that it is only your judgment of the incident that provokes you. -
Maybe the ultimate wound is the one that makes you miss the war you got it in.
Hard power makes sense under some circumstances. But there's not a universal solution to global problems.
What is the knocking? What is the knocking at the door in the night? It is somebody who wants to do us harm. No, no, it is the three strange angels. Admit them, admit them.
Sometimes we don't even realize what we really care about, because we get so distracted by the symbols.
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