Who do I belong to? How come I mortgaged my being till I don't belong to myself? How come I sold my blood? And who now owns my indecisions, my hands, my private pain, my pride?
Interpretation
The quote explores themes of identity, ownership, and personal sacrifice, questioning one's autonomy and sense of belonging.
Pablo Neruda's quote delves into the profound and often painful experience of losing oneself in the quest for acceptance and love. It raises existential questions about identity, ownership of one’s choices, and the toll of surrendering one’s essence to others, highlighting the struggle between personal desires and external expectations.
In practice
A speaker at a mental health awareness event might quote Neruda to emphasize the importance of self-identity.
Perhaps this war will pass like the others which divided us leaving us dead, killing us along with the killers but the shame of this time puts its burning fingers to our faces. Who will erase the ruthlessness hidden in innocent blood?
I want to see the thirst inside the syllables I want to touch the fire in the sound: I want to feel the darkness of the cry. I want words as rough as virgin rocks.” - Verb.
Only do not forget, if I wake up crying it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands.
And here am I, budding among the ruins with only sorrow to bite on, as if weeping were a seed and I the earth's only furrow.
Once more I am the silent one who came out of the distance wrapped in cold rain and bells: I owe to earth's pure death the will to sprout.
I learned about life from life itself, love I learned in a single kiss and could teach no one anything except that I have lived with something in common among men.
You can't judge an internal injury by the size of the hole.
It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when arms have been laid down.
The fact about himself that the liar hides is that he is attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality; we are not to know that he wants us to believe something he supposes to be false. The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him . . . He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.
Small acts of decency ripple in ways we could never imagine.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
I don't think most people are aware of the exotic and extreme tools at the disposal of the most powerful and wealthy men of America when they are bent at silencing accusations against them.
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