I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Samuel BeckettRead
I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests the power of silence and its expression in a profound way, surpassing even the most skilled artists.
In this quote, Samuel Beckett emphasizes the significance of silence and how it can be articulated more effectively than conventional forms of expression. It reflects on the complexities of human emotion and experience, suggesting that even a seasoned individual may find awe in the subtleties of silence, portraying it as a deeper and sometimes more impactful form of communication than mere words or vivid imagery.
Themes
SilenceExpressionArtCommunicationHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the power of non-verbal communication, this quote could illustrate how silence can be more telling than words.
More from Samuel Beckett
All quotes βNothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
Samuel BeckettRead
And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
Samuel BeckettRead
I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
Samuel BeckettRead
We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
Samuel BeckettRead
Vladimir: Did I ever leave you? Estragon: You let me go.
Samuel BeckettRead
Similar quotes
To build means to make architecture real on the borders of knowledge.
Frei OttoRead
Art bids us touch and taste and hear and see the world, and shrinks from what Blake calls mathematic form, from every abstract form, from all that is of the brain only.
William Butler YeatsRead
One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing. I did that with 'World's Fair,' as with all of them. The inventions of the book come as discoveries.
E. L. DoctorowRead
I realised a long time ago that instrumental music speaks a lot more clearly than English, Spanish, Yiddish, Swahili, any other language. Pure melody goes outside time.
Carlos SantanaRead
The reason I play music is to touch people - for selfish reasons, as well. It feels good to make someone else feel something, whether it's a kiss, a painting, good idea or it's a song.
Dave MatthewsRead
Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life
Rainer Maria RilkeRead