QuoteProject
People think about who they are in the stillest hour of the night. I carry this thought, the child's mystery and terror of this thought, I feel this immensity in my soul every second of my life.
Don Delillo
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

In quiet moments, we confront our true selves and the enormity of existence.

This quote by Don Delillo reflects on the introspection that occurs during the stillness of night, a time when individuals are most vulnerable to their thoughts and the profound mysteries of life. The 'child's mystery and terror' evokes the innate fear and wonder we experience in confronting our identity and the vastness of our existence, emphasizing the importance of such contemplations in shaping our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Themes

IntrospectionExistenceIdentityNightMystery

In practice

Example use cases

During a meditation session, one could reflect on the nature of self with Delillo's words in mind.

More from Don Delillo

The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
Don DelilloRead
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
Don DelilloRead
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
Don DelilloRead
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
Don DelilloRead
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. 
He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way he’s carrying a gun. 
This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
Don DelilloRead

Similar quotes

Diwali means to be in the present, so drop the regrets of the past and the worries of the future and live in the moment. It is a time to forget the bickering and negativities that have happened through the year. It is a time when you throw light on the wisdom you have gained and welcome a new beginning.
Sri Sri Ravi ShankarRead
If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
MichelangeloRead
What does it mean to know and experience my own “nothingness?” It is not enough to turn away in disgust from my illusions and faults and mistakes, to separate myself from them as if they were not, and as if I were someone other than myself. This kind of self-annihilati on is only a worse illusion, it is a pretended humility which, by saying “I am nothing” I mean in effect “I wish I were not what I am.
Thomas MertonRead
What I call a mimetic crisis is a situation of conflict so intense that on both sides people act the same way and talk the same way even though, or because, they are more and more hostile to each other.
Rene GirardRead
ORPHAN, n. A living person whom death has deprived of the power of filial ingratitude . . .
Ambrose BierceRead
I will no longer enter into the all-American skin game that demands you select a box and define yourself by it.
Thomas Chatterton WilliamsRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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

Quote by Don Delillo | QuoteProject