“Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are to see anything.”
Humboldt's Gift (1975), p. 265
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Saul Bellow 103
Canadian-born American writer 1915–2005Related quotes

Quoted in: Yanqing Vanessa Ong et al. Memories unfolded: a guide to memories at Old Ford Factory, 2008, p. 50
Quoted regarding his advisor.Few men in history would be so frank and honest with their monarch and when Weizheng died, Taizong was overwhelmed with grief. The Emperor said to his ministers,

“All I see in the mirror every morning is a face that needs washing.”

“For our improvement we need a mirror.”
Zu unserer Besserung bedürfen wir eines Spiegels.
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life

"Modern Ethics", pp. 270–271
The Universal Kinship (1906), The Ethical Kinship

As quoted by Ned Rorem The Dick Cavett Show (PBS) (6 October 1981)

Las Menias
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (1970)