QuoteProject
Of all the islands he'd visited, two stood out. The island of the past, he said, where the only time was past time and the inhabitants were bored and more or less happy, but where the weight of illusion was so great that the island sank a little deeper into the river every day. And the island of the future, where the only time was the future, and the inhabitants were planners and strivers, such strivers, said Ulises, that they were likely to end up devouring one another.
Roberto Bolano
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the contrasting nature of living in the past versus the future, highlighting the dangers each presents.

In this thought-provoking quote, Roberto Bolano compares two metaphorical islands: one represents the past, inhabited by people who are content yet stagnant, weighed down by illusions of nostalgia, while the other symbolizes the future, populated by ambitious individuals whose relentless striving can lead to conflict and consumption of one another. This analysis prompts deeper reflection on how different temporal perspectives affect human behavior and happiness.

Themes

PastFutureTimeIllusionAmbitionConflict

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about how our perception of time shapes our life choices.

More from Roberto Bolano

Coincidence obeys no laws and if it does we don't know what they are. Coincidence, if you'll permit me the simile, is like the manifestation of God at every moment on our planet. A senseless God making senseless gestures at his senseless creatures. In that hurricane, in that osseous implosion, we find communion.
Roberto BolanoRead
The sky, at sunset, looked like a carnivorous flower.
Roberto BolanoRead
I'd obviously never heard of the group, but my ignorance in literary matters is to blame for that (every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me).
Roberto BolanoRead
Every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me.
Roberto BolanoRead
Bright colours in the west, giant butterflies dancing as night crept like a cripple toward the east.
Roberto BolanoRead
Being alone makes us stronger. That’s the honest truth. But it’s cold comfort, since even if I wanted company no one will come near me anymore.
Roberto BolanoRead

Similar quotes

...the goal of all spiritual life is to get your ego out of the way - outwit the sucker; dissolve it; shoot it; kill it. Silence the incessant planning, organizing, running, manipulating, possessing, and processing"... "because these activities preclude awareness of the Divine.
Lawrence KushnerRead
We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think as well as we can. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. I believe we have an obligation to fight for life on Earth - not just for ourselves, but for all those, humans and others, who came before us, and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after.
Carl SaganRead
Not much music left inside us for life to dance to. Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth. And where, I ask you, can a man escape to, when he hasn't enough madness left inside him? The truth is an endless death agony. The truth is death. You have to choose: death or lies. I've never been able to kill myself.
Louis-Ferdinand CelineRead
How blessed and amazing are God's gifts, dear friends! Life with immortality, splendor with righteous, truth with confidence, faith with assurance, self-control with holiness! And all these things are within our comprehension.
Pope Clement IRead
But the most horrible spot .... lies....immediately south west of Oxford Road and is known as Little Ireland. The race that lives in these ruinous cottages, behind broken windows, mended with oilskin, sprung doors, and rotten door-posts, or in dark, wet cellars, in measureless filth and stench....must surely have reached the lowest stage of humanity.
Friedrich EngelsRead
We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?
Tom StoppardRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.