In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.
Interpretation
This quote speaks to the experience of deep emotional struggles and the feeling of being trapped in despair.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote encapsulates the profound sense of hopelessness that can accompany difficult periods in life, often likening such experiences to a never-ending cycle of darkness. The phrase 'three o'clock in the morning' symbolizes the time when oneβs fears and troubles seem to loom the largest, representing a moment when clarity and relief seem farthest away, emphasizing the relentless nature of inner turmoil.
In practice
This quote can be referenced in a personal blog post discussing mental health struggles.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Feminism is just an idea. It's a philosophy. It's about the equality of women in all realms. It's not about man-hating. It's not about being humorless. We have to let go of these misconceptions that have plagued feminism for 40, 50 years.
Enlightenment is not something you achieve. It is the absence of something. All your life you have been going forward after something, pursuing some goal. Enlightenment is dropping all that.
The idol is the expression of religion.
Don't be agnostic - be something.
I don't view prosecutors and attorneys as natural enemies. ... Though their roles are oppositional, the two simply have different roles to play in pursuit of the larger purpose, realizing the rule of law. ... This is not to deny that the will to win drives those efforts. ... Rather, it is simply to insist that ultimately, neither the accused nor society is served unless the integrity of the system is set above the expedient purposes of either side.
The only power deserving the name is that of masses, and of governments while they make themselves the organ of the tendencies and instincts of masses.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.