There in its nasty, stinking, underground home our…
““There in its nasty, stinking, underground home our insulted, crushed and ridiculed mouse promptly becomes absorbed in cold, malignant and, above all, everlasting spite. For forty years together it will remember its injury down to the smallest, most ignominious details, and every time will add, of itself, details still more ignominious, spitefully teasing and tormenting itself with its own imagination. It will itself be ashamed of its imaginings, but yet it will recall it all, it will go over and over every detail, it will invent unheard of things against itself, pretending that those things might happen, and will forgive nothing. Maybe it will begin to revenge itself, too, but, as it were, piecemeal, in trivial ways, from behind the stove, incognito, without believing either in its own right to vengeance, or in the success of its revenge, knowing that from all its efforts at revenge it will suffer a hundred times more than he on whom it revenges itself, while he, I daresay, will not even scratch himself. On its deathbed it will recall it all over again, with interest accumulated over all the years…””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
A resentful mind obsessively revisits past hurts, magnifying them into endless self‑torment and futile revenge.
In simple terms: Obsessive grudges cause endless inner suffering.
Key Takeaway
Avoid nurturing grudges; seek forgiveness.
Themes
resentment
psychology
self‑destruction
Mood
melancholic
reflective
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- personal relationships
- therapy
- conflict resolution
Key Concepts
existentialism
cognitive bias
Questions to Reflect On
- How can one break the loop of replaying past injuries?
- What practices help transform resentment into compassion?
A Different Perspective
The mind can become trapped in a cycle of self‑inflicted pain, limiting growth.