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.
Interpretation
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.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about how our perception of time shapes our life choices.
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.
The sky, at sunset, looked like a carnivorous flower.
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).
Every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me.
Bright colours in the west, giant butterflies dancing as night crept like a cripple toward the east.
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.
Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.
Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.
The more uncertain I have felt about myself, the more there has grown up in me a feeling of kinship with all things.
Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminality, and the genocide of millions. Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not to.
Our notion of an optimist is a man who knowing that each year was worse than the preceding, thinks next year will be better. And a pessimist is a man who knows the next year can't be worse than the last one.
Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.
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