I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I'm able to conceal the information I'm trying to conceal. And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.
Angels and demons were identical--interchangeable archetypes--all a matter of polarity. The guardian angel who conquered your enemy in battle was perceived by your enemy as a demon destroyer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights how perceptions shape our understanding of good and evil, suggesting that the same entity can be viewed as both a protector and a threat.
In this quote, Dan Brown explores the concept of polarity in human perception, emphasizing that angels and demons can be seen as two sides of the same coin. This duality indicates that actions and identities are often defined by perspective; what one person perceives as a guardian figure may be seen by another as a malevolent force, showcasing the complexities of morality and the subjective nature of good and evil.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on morality, one could use this quote to illustrate how different viewpoints affect our understanding of actions.
More from Dan Brown
All quotes βForce a hand, the voice warned, and it will fight you. But convince a mind to think as you want it to think, and you have an ally.
When swimming into a dark tunnel,there arrives a point of no return when you no longer have enough breath to double back.your choice is to swim forward into the unknown....and pray for an exit
Only one form of contagion travels faster than a virus. And that's fear.
Futurists don't consider overpopulation one of the issues of the future. They consider it the issue of the future.
We have plenty of technologies we could use to destroy the planet, and we don't. There's more love on this planet than hate; there's more creativity than destructive power.
Similar quotes
We can't live in a state of perpetual doubt, so we make up the best story possible and we live as if the story were true.
It was Christianity, with its heartfelt resentment against life, that first made something unclean of sexuality: it threw filth on the origin, on the essential fact of our life.
The great objects which presented themselves [to the Constitutional Convention] ... formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by those who were not concerned in the execution of it. Adding to these considerations the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated subjects, it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.
Bizarre and engrossingly disturbing, Naked Lunch, finds truth in madness.
I hear much of people's calling out to punish the guilty, but very few are concerned to clear the innocent.
We need not throw away 200 years of American jurisprudence while we fight terrorism. We need not choose between our most deeply held values, and keeping this nation safe.