What she said was always strange. It had happened long ago. It seemed insignificant. And yet it was something you remembered forever. The words as well as the story. The voice as much as the words.
Marguerite DurasRead
Alcohol doesn't console, it doesn't fill up anyone's psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn't comfort man. On the contrary, it encourages him in his folly, it transports him to the supreme regions where he is master of his own destiny.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that alcohol offers no true comfort or fulfillment, merely serving as a distraction from spiritual emptiness.
Marguerite Duras reflects on the deceptive nature of alcohol, asserting that it does not address deeper emotional or psychological issues. Instead, it merely acts as a temporary escape, allowing individuals to feel a false sense of control and freedom while still leaving their fundamental needs unfulfilled. This highlights the idea that true solace comes from spiritual or existential fulfillment rather than substance use.
Themes
AlcoholComfortSpiritualityPsychologicalFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about coping mechanisms, this quote illustrates the temporary nature of alcohol as a solution.
More from Marguerite Duras
All quotes →I'm still there, watching those possessed children, as far away from the mystery now as I was then. I've never written, though I thought I wrote, never loved, though I thought I loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door.
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Perhaps someone will have seen mine, the one I’m waiting for, just as I saw him, in a ditch when his hands were making their last appeal and his eyes no longer could see. Someone who will never know what that man was to me; someone whose name I’ll never know.
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A prolonged silence ensues. The reason for the silence is our growing interest one for the other. No one is aware of it, no one yet; no one? am I quite sure?
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A house means a family house, a place specially meant for putting children and men in so as to restrict their waywardness and distract them from the longing for adventure and escape they've had since time began.
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