“The law of revolution is red, fiery, deadly; but this death means the birth of new life, a new star. And the law of entropy is cold, ice blue, like the icy interplanetary infinities. The flame turns from red to an even, warm pink, no longer deadly, but comfortable.”
On Literature, Revolution, Entropy and Other Matters (1923)
Context: The law of revolution is red, fiery, deadly; but this death means the birth of new life, a new star. And the law of entropy is cold, ice blue, like the icy interplanetary infinities. The flame turns from red to an even, warm pink, no longer deadly, but comfortable. The sun ages into a planet, convenient for highways, stores, beds, prostitutes, prisons: this is the law. And if the planet is to be kindled into youth again, it must be set on fire, it must be thrown off the smooth highway of evolution: this is the law.
The flame will cool tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow (in the Book of Genesis days are equal to years, ages). But someone must see this already today, and speak heretically today about tomorrow. Heretics are the only (bitter) remedy against the entropy of human thought.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Yevgeny Zamyatin34
Russian author 1884–1937Related quotes
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) Italian painter and sculptor
As quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 174
1910, Manifesto of Futurist Painters,' April 1910
Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic
Letter to Husák
“Black A, white E, red I, green U, blue O: vowels,
Someday I shall recount your latent births.”
Arthur Rimbaud book Vowels
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles,<br>Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes ! <br class="br"> Voyelles http://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Vowels.html (Vowels (1871)
“I have forgotten much, but still remember
The poinsiana's red, blood-red in warm December.”
Claude McKay (1889–1948) Jamaican American writer, poet
Flame-Heart, l. 9-10