“For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the earth to nowhere, dark, never any end to nowhere, hung on all time always to unknowing nowhere, this time and again for always to nowhere, now not to be borne once again always and to nowhere, now beyond all bearing up, up, up and into nowhere, suddenly, scaldingly, holdingly all nowhere gone and time absolutely still and they were both there, time having stopped and he felt the earth move out and away from under them.”
Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 13
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Ernest Hemingway 501
American author and journalist 1899–1961Related quotes
“To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me.”
"Walking", p. 205
The Journey Home (1977)
Context: There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many, but some. Walking takes longer, for example, than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists foresee a future for us in which distance is annihilated and anyone can transport himself anywhere, instantly. Big deal, Buckminster. To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me. <!-- π
Dostojewski ist seiner Zeit noch um ein paar gewagte Schritte voraus. Man folgt ihm schwindelnd, bange, ungläubig; aber man folgt. Er lässt nicht locker, man muss folgen. … Man muss ihn einfach als Unikum nehmen. Er kommt von nirgendwo und gehört nirgendwo hin. Und dabei bleibt er doch stets Russe.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)
Soini: No one has taken responsibility for Syria, quoted on Yli.Fi, "Foreign Minister Soini: Why is no one marching for Syria?" http://yle.fi/uutiset/foreign_minister_soini_why_is_no_one_marching_for_syria/8675443, February 16, 2016
Context: If such a situation arises, that someone gains an advantage by waging war, that would be a bad example for small and weak nations. It is a shame for the entire international community, for the UN, international organisations and the superpowers that this can go on [referring to the Syrian Civil War. Of course public opinions need to be shaken up. We see demonstrations all the time about all kinds of things, but no one, nowhere has marched because of this.
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)
Context: And hold Humanity one man, whose universal agony
Still strains and strives to gain the goal, where agonies shall cease to be.
Believe in all things; none believe; judge not nor warp by "Facts" the thought;
See clear, hear clear, tho' life may seem Mâyâ and Mirage, Dream and Naught.
Abjure the Why and seek the How: the God and gods enthroned on high,
Are silent all, are silent still; nor hear thy voice, nor deign reply.
The Now, that indivisible point which studs the length of infinite line
Whose ends are nowhere, is thine all, the puny all thou callest thine.
“Who is everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.”
Nusquam est qui ubique est. Vitam in peregrinatione exigentibus hoc evenit, ut multa hospitia habeant, nullas amicitias.
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter II: On discursiveness in reading, Line 2.
“She understands. There is nowhere to go but on. Still, part of her longs to go back”
Source: Everything I Never Told You
Los Angelenos.
Song lyrics, Streetlife Serenade (1974)