“To be an ignorant man, to posses nothing but a fragile word, to find oneself as if relying upon darkness and nothingness: that is the position from which one must be constantly setting out.”
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Jean Starobinski1
Swiss writer 1920–2019Related quotes
John Locke book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Book IV, Ch. 7
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
Context: False and doubtful positions, relied upon as unquestionable maxims, keep those who build on them in the dark from truth. Such are usually the prejudices imbibed from education, party, reverence, fashion, interest, et cetera.
Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) German painter
written text with brush, in her painting JHM no. 4693 https://charlotte.jck.nl/detail/M004693/part/character/theme/keyword/M004693 + 4694 https://charlotte.jck.nl/detail/M004694/part/character/theme/keyword/M004694: in 'Life? or Theater..', p. 575 <br class="br">Charlotte Salomon - Life? or Theater?
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
"90 North," lines 28-32
Blood for a Stranger (1942)
Context: I see at last that all the knowledgeI wrung from the darkness — that the darkness flung me —
Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing,
The darkness from the darkness. Pain comes from the darkness
And we call it wisdom. It is pain.
Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990) Japanese philosopher
Source: The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism (1990), p. 187