“Then all at once I see it and I know at once what it is: epiphany.”

— James Joyce , book Stephen Hero

Stephen Hero (1944)
Context: This triviality made him think of collecting many such moments together in a book of epiphanies. By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments. He told Cranly that the clock of the Ballast Office was capable of an epiphany. Cranly questioned the inscrutable dial of the Ballast Office with his no less inscrutable countenance:
—Yes, said Stephen. I will pass it time after time, allude to it, refer to it, catch a glimpse of it. It is only an item in the catalogue of Dublin's street furniture. Then all at once I see it and I know at once what it is: epiphany.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 22, 2020. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Then all at once I see it and I know at once what it is: epiphany." by James Joyce?

James Joyce 191

Irish novelist and poet 1882–1941

Susan Hill book The Woman in Black

Source: The Woman in Black

“Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

My Own Epitaph, inscribed on Gay’s monument in Westminster Abbey; also quoted as "I thought so once; but now I know it".
Variant: Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, and now I know it.