I have a different idea of a universal. It is of a universal rich with all that is particular, rich with all the particulars there are, the deepening of each particular, the coexistence of them all.
Aime CesaireRead
A man screaming is not a dancing bear. Life is not a spectacle.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is not just a performance for entertainment; it is a serious experience.
Aime Cesaire's quote highlights the importance of recognizing the depth and seriousness of life rather than viewing it as mere entertainment or a performance. The imagery of a person screaming juxtaposed with a dancing bear suggests that human emotions and experiences are profound and complex, underscoring the need for authenticity and genuine understanding in our lives.
Themes
LifeAuthenticityDepthSeriousnessPerformanceEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing genuine experiences over superficial ones.
More from Aime Cesaire
All quotes βAfrica, help me to go home, carry me like an aged child in your arms. Undress me and wash me. Strip me of all of these garments, strip me as a man strips off dreams when the dawn comes. . . .
Aime CesaireRead
It is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the bark cries out from beneath the paint.
Aime CesaireRead
I am talking about societies drained of their essence, cultures trampled underfoot, institutions undermined, lands confiscated, religions smashed, magnificent artistic creations destroyed, extraordinary possibilities wiped out.
Aime CesaireRead
Similar quotes
What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope?
Immanuel KantRead
The revealed and mystic literature of mankind bears ample testimony to the fact that religious experience has been too enduring and dominant in the history of mankind to be rejected as mere illusion. There seems to be no reason, then, to accept the normal level of human experience as fact and reject its other levels as mystical and emotional.
Muhammad IqbalRead
Of course, Behaviourism 'works'. So does torture. Give me a no-nonsense, down-to-earth behaviourist, a few drugs, and simple electrical appliances, and in six months I will have him reciting the Athanasian Creed in public.
W. H. AudenRead
Did it matter then, she asked herself, walking towards Bond Street, did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely? All this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely?
Virginia WoolfRead
But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power...It must follow knowledge, and serve need.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.
Isaac Bashevis SingerRead