why does what was beautiful shatter in hindsight because it concealed dark truths?
Bernhard SchlinkRead
It was more dangerous not to go; I was running the risk of becoming trapped in my own fantasies. So I was doing the right thing by going. She would behave normally, I would behave normally, and everything would be normal again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Taking action is necessary to avoid becoming lost in dreams and fantasies.
In this quote, Bernhard Schlink reflects on the importance of facing reality rather than retreating into one's fantasies. The speaker acknowledges the dangers of inaction, suggesting that the act of going out and engaging with the world is a courageous decision that restores a sense of normalcy in life.
Themes
CourageFantasyRealityActionNormalcy
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about embracing life changes.
More from Bernhard Schlink
All quotes →The tectonic layers of our lives rest so tightly one on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones, not as matter that has been fully formed and pushed aside, but absolutely present and alive. I understand this. Nonetheless, I sometimes find it hard to bear.
Bernhard SchlinkRead
It wasn't that I forgot Hanna. But at a certain point the memory of her stopped accompanying me wherever I went. She stayed behind, the way a city stays behind as a train pulls out of the station. It's there, somewhere behind you, and you could go back and make sure of it. But why should you?
Bernhard SchlinkRead
She was struggling, as she always had struggled, not to show what she could do but to hide what she couldn't do. A life made up of advances that were actually frantic retreats and victories that were concealed defeats.
Bernhard SchlinkRead
Desires, memories, fears, passions form labyrinths in which we lose and find and then lose ourselves again.
Bernhard SchlinkRead
...I had to point at Hanna. But the finger I pointed at her turned back to me. I had loved her. I tried to tell myself that I had known nothing of what she had done when I chose her. I tried to talk myself into the state of innocence in which children love their parents. But love of our parents is the only love for which we are not responsible. ...And perhaps we are responsible even for the love we feel for our parents.
Bernhard SchlinkRead
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