QuoteProject
It is the want to know the end that makes us believe in God, or witchcraft, believe, at least, in something
Truman Capote
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The desire to understand the ultimate truths of existence leads people to believe in higher powers or mystical forces.

This quote by Truman Capote suggests that the human inclination to seek certainty about the future or the finality of life drives individuals to place their faith in deities, supernatural forces, or similar constructs. Our quest for knowledge and understanding often leads to the adoption of beliefs that offer comfort and explanation, even when they may not be based on empirical evidence.

Themes

BeliefFaithKnowledgeCertaintySupernatural

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the nature of faith during a philosophy class.

More from Truman Capote

I want to still be me when I wake up one fine morning and have breakfast at Tiffany´s.
Truman CapoteRead
All writing, all art, is an act of faith. If one tries to contribute to human understanding, how can that be called decadent? It's like saying a declaration of love is an act of decadence. Any work of art, provide it springs from a sincere motivation to further understanding between people, is an act of faith and therefore is an act of love.
Truman CapoteRead
No one will ever know what 'In Cold Blood' took out of me. It scraped me right down to the marrow of my bones. It nearly killed me. I think, in a way, it did kill me.
Truman CapoteRead
Hot weather opens the skull of a city, exposing its white brain, and its heart of nerves, which sizzle like the wires inside a lightbulb. And there exudes a sour extra-human smell that makes the very stone seem flesh-alive, webbed and pulsing.
Truman CapoteRead
I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.
Truman CapoteRead
The quietness of his tone italicized the malice of his reply.
Truman CapoteRead

Similar quotes

The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape
Rem KoolhaasRead
Who is the most favored of God? He from whom the greatest good comes to His creatures.
MuhammadRead
And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?
Henry David ThoreauRead
When we try to make everything clear, we make everything confused. If, however, we admit one mysterious thing in the universe, then everything else becomes clear in the light of that. The sun is so bright, so mysterious, that one cannot look at it, and yet in the light of the sun everything else is seen.
Fulton J. SheenRead
If government knew how, I should like to see it check, not multiply, the population. When it reaches its true law of action, every man that is born will be hailed as essential.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Aliens might be surprised to learn that in a cosmos with limitless starlight, humans kill for energy sources buried in the sand
Neil Degrasse TysonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.