I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Samuel BeckettRead
We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of aging and the numbing effect of routines in life.
Samuel Beckett's quote suggests that while we have the gift of time and the experiences that come with aging, there is a cautionary note about the dangers of falling into habitual ways of living. The 'cries' in the air indicate the vitality of human experiences, yet the repetition of habits can dull our senses and prevent us from truly embracing life.
Themes
AgingHabitExperienceLifeVitality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of embracing life fully.
More from Samuel Beckett
All quotes →Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
Samuel BeckettRead
I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
Samuel BeckettRead
And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
Samuel BeckettRead
I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
Samuel BeckettRead
We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
Samuel BeckettRead
Similar quotes
To know one’s own state is not a simple matter. One cannot look directly at one’s own face with one’s own eyes, for example. One has no choice but to look at one’s reflection in the mirror. Through experience, we come to believe that the image is correct, but that is all.
Haruki MurakamiRead
All men have the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all the stars are silent. You--you alone--will have the stars as no one else has them--
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine.
Patti SmithRead
To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.
Ma JianRead
Among the facts of the universe to be accounted for, it may be said, is Mind; and it is self evident that nothing can have produced Mind but Mind.
John Stuart MillRead
RUMOR, n. A favorite weapon of the assassins of character.
Ambrose BierceRead