The most agonising thing is to drop doubt into a man about his being a reality, three-dimensional - and not some other kind of reality.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the profound struggle of self-identity and the fear of questioning one's own existence.
Yevgeny Zamyatin's quote speaks to the deep existential crisis that arises when an individual begins to doubt the very nature of their own reality and existence. It captures the anguish of feeling uncertain about one's identity and essence, suggesting that such doubt can be one of the most painful experiences a person can endure. This reflection on reality encourages a deeper exploration of what it means to exist authentically within a complex and often confusing world.
In practice
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of reality, one might use this quote to emphasize the struggle of self-identification.
The knife is the most durable, immortal, the most genius thing that man created. The knife was the guillotine; the knife is the universal means of solving all knots; and along the blade of a knife lies the path of paradox - the single most worthy path of the fearless mind.
Accentuated plainness and accentuated vice ought to bring about harmony. Beauty lies in harmony, in style, whether it be the harmony of ugliness or beauty, vice or virtue.
The world is kept alive only by heretics: the heretic Christ, the heretic Copernicus, the heretic Tolstoy. Our symbol of faith is heresy...
The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is - to bloom. (βA Story About The Most Important Thingβ)
A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth reading.
Knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith.
The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose.
If I have to jump six feet to get the same thing that you have to jump two feet for - that's how racism works.
There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all.
Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard?
Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.