We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?
Interpretation
This quote suggests that in desperate situations, we often grasp at futile solutions. It highlights the absurdity of relying on ineffective help when we are in real trouble.
Tom Stoppard's quote reflects on the human tendency to seek solutions even when those solutions are impractical or ineffective, particularly during moments of crisis. The imagery of 'drifting down time' indicates a passive approach to life's challenges, while 'clutching at straws' signifies desperate attempts to find hope in unlikely places. Ultimately, the metaphor of ‘a brick to a drowning man’ underscores the futility of relying on heavy and unsuitable help when what is needed is something that can truly save us.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges, one might quote this to illustrate how misguided efforts can lead to more frustration.
Love is - OK, it's 20 things, but it isn't 19. And I think that love reaches for something which is very, very deep in us and is very easily obscured, and is also very easily denied, which is the instinct towards the other person, other than toward the self.
A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar - you pretend it's not there.
I once did a radio program with a famous materialist, that is to say a scientist who believed that absolutely everything was physical and that all emotions were reductive to little electrical impulses in your neurons. And I found that I didn't believe that. But what the emotions really are, I don't have an alternative theory.
One of the reasons why there are so many versions of Chekhov is that translations date in a way that the original doesn't; translations seem to be of their time.
A Chinaman of the T'ang Dynasty—and, by which definition, a philosopher—dreamed he was a butterfly, and from that moment he was never quite sure that he was not a butterfly dreaming it was a Chinese philosopher. Envy him; in his two-fold security.
Chekhov directors and Chekhov actors love working on his plays because there seems to be no end to what you can find out about the micro-narrative when you're investigating a text.
You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people.
I am nothing but I must be everything.
The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.
The President to-night has a dream: - He was in a party of plain people, and, as it became known who he was, they began to comment on his appearance. One of them said: - "He is a very common-looking man". The President replied: - "The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is the reason he makes so many of them".
How friendly all men would be one with another, if no regard were paid to honour and money! I believe it would be a remedy for everything.
Reality denied comes back to haunt.
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