We have not made the Revolution, the Revolution has made us.
The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of death and the fleeting nature of life.
Georg Buchner's quote poetically captures the essence of human mortality, suggesting that each heartbeat and every drop of blood is a reminder of the ticking clock of life. It conveys a sense of urgency and reflects on the passion and pain of existence, portraying life as a persistent struggle akin to a fever that lingers yet ultimately fades away. This existential reflection illustrates how time is precious and fleeting, urging us to confront the reality of our own mortality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of making the most of life, you could quote Buchner to emphasize the urgency of living fully.
More from Georg Buchner
All quotes βThe breath of an aristocrat is the death rattle of freedom.
Raise your eyes and count the small gang of your oppressors who are only strong through the blood they suck from you and through your arms which you lend them unwillingly.
Similar quotes
I offered up a special prayer, a prayer which came with tears and anguish, that some way would open up for me to use what talents I possessed for my fellow workers, for the poor.
The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality.
How do I know you'll keep your word?" asked Coraline. "I swear it," said the other mother. "I swear it on my own mother's grave." "Does she have a grave?" asked Coraline. "Oh yes," said the other mother. "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.
I wonder what the retirement age is in the novel business. The day you die.
First, if it is true that a spatial order organizes an ensemble of possibilities (e.g., by a place in which one can move) and interdictions (e.g., by a wall that prevents one from going further), than the walked actualizes some of these possibilities. In that way, he makes them exist as well as emerge. But he also moves them about and he invents others, since the crossing, drifting away, or improvisation of walking privilege, transform, or abandon spatial elements.
We say primarily that the priority of this struggle is class. That Marx and Lenin and Che Guevara and Mao Tse-Tung, and anybody else who ever said or knew or practiced anything about revolution, always said that a revolution is a class struggle.