Skip to content

What I'd saved: lost. Worse: I lost it. Can't even tell…

“What I'd saved: lost. Worse: I lost it. Can't even tell myself that I sort of lost it that lost I keep it still. I lost the saved. I've lost. I'm lost. This is pain, one dies of or kills. Kill it and one kills oneself. Splashes of bloody skin all over my notebooks. I haven't forgotten a dream, as…” quote by Hélène Cixous
Download Open image
““What I'd saved: lost. Worse: I lost it. Can't even tell myself that I sort of lost it that lost I keep it still. I lost the saved. I've lost. I'm lost. This is pain, one dies of or kills. Kill it and one kills oneself. Splashes of bloody skin all over my notebooks. I haven't forgotten a dream, as it is written happens in the realm of dreams. One forgets a dream, then one forgets one has forgotten, nothing dies of this. I've lost The Dream . I cannot tell a soul. I will not enter alive into the beyond. I search for an explanation. To the labyrinth I descend with the chapeau . Maleficent remains but remains, therefore blessed. If I could ask my friend. No one else. He and only he knows the extraordinary value of what is lost, greater by far that the value of what one keeps. Suddenly I'm only this torch consuming itself. What to do? I had the papers, I took them from myself, I threw them in the Trash, I threw out my own being, I had the memory of the future at the window I broke me, I tore up the secret into a thousand pieces, I tweezed the sublime out of me, I had god I squashed him with a hat, this is not the first time I take myself to the labyrinth but this is the first time I go down into the labyrinth. I went right by the very trash bin of my being, how can you do away with your own eyes, I did it, who knows how””

Hélène Cixous

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A fragmented, anguished confession of loss, identity, and self‑destruction, portraying an inner labyrinth of memory and existential dread.

In simple terms: The speaker feels lost, broken, and overwhelmed by inner turmoil.

Key Takeaway

Confront inner and articulate inner pain.

Themes

identity loss existential dread self‑destruction memory

Mood

anguished conflicted introspective

Type

confessional philosophical literary

When to use this quote

  • personal crisis
  • creative writing
  • mental health therapy
  • artistic expression
  • philosophical reflection

Key Concepts

surrealism psychoanalysis nihilism

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does the labyrinth symbolize for you?
  • How can one reclaim agency after self‑destruction?
A Different Perspective

The intense self‑criticism may obscure paths to healing.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by Hélène Cixous

Explore all 121 Hélène Cixous quotes

More Dreams quotes

Browse all 40,599 Dreams quotes