. . . money . . . is really the difference between men and animals, most of the things men feel, animals feel, and vice versa, but animals do not know about money.
Gertrude SteinRead
Just before she died she asked, What is the answer? No answer came. She laughed and said, In that case, what is the question? Then she died.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on life's ultimate questions and the search for meaning, suggesting that sometimes the questions are more significant than the answers.
Gertrude Stein's quote captures the essence of existential inquiry, where the dying words of a person highlight the profound mystery surrounding life and death. It indicates that the pursuit of understanding is often fraught with uncertainty, and in the face of the unknown, one may find humor or peace in questioning rather than seeking definitive answers. This interplay between questions and answers prompts reflection on our existence and the nature of our inquiries.
Themes
LifeQuestionsAnswersExistenceMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, reflecting on the essence of understanding life and death.
More from Gertrude Stein
All quotes βThe creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic.
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If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.
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The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.
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I simply contend that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeals to me, it is in short the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods.
Gertrude SteinRead
It is natural to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to that siren until she allures us to our death.
Gertrude SteinRead
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