You can't measure time by days, the way you measure money by dollars and cents, because dollars are all the same while every day is different and maybe every hour as well.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
He constructed a vast labyrinthine of periods, made impassable by the piling-up of clauses upon clauses-clauses in which oversight and bad grammar seemed manifestations of disdain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote discusses the complexity and potential flaws in literary structures, particularly in writing.
In this quote, Borges reflects on the intricate and often convoluted nature of written language, emphasizing how excessive complexity—symbolized by a 'vast labyrinthine' of sentences—can lead to confusion and a lack of clarity. The mention of 'oversight and bad grammar' as a sign of disdain suggests that such carelessness can diminish the reader's experience, highlighting the importance of clear and thoughtful writing.
Themes
WritingLanguageComplexityLiteratureGrammar
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of clarity in academic writing, one might reference this quote to illustrate the pitfalls of over-complicated sentences.
More from Jorge Luis Borges
All quotes →To say good-bye is to deny separation; it is to say Today we play at going our own ways, but we'll see each other tomorrow. Men invented farewells because they somehow knew themselves to be immortal, even while seeing themselves as contingent and ephemeral.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
The execution was set for the 29th of March, at nine in the morning. This delay was due to a desire on the part of the authorities to act slowly and impersonally, in the manner of planets or vegetables.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
This felicitous supposition declared that there is only one Individual, and that this indivisible Individual is every one of the separate beings in the universe, and that these beings are the instruments and masks of divinity itself.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
Let neither tear nor reproach besmirch this declaration of the mastery of God who, with magnificent irony, granted me both the gift of books and the night.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
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