Face to face Quote by Barry Eisler
““I came to the first floor and looked out at the entranceway of the building. For a second I pictured the way she had hugged me here. It already seemed like a long time ago. I felt an unpleasant mixture of gratitude and longing, streaked with guilt and regret. And in a flash of insight, cutting with cold clarity through the fog of my fatigue, I realized what I hadn’t been able to articulate earlier, not even to myself, when she’d asked me what I was afraid of. It had been this, the moment after, when I would come face to face with knowing that it would all end badly, if not this morning, then the next one. Or the one after that. I used the rear entrance, where there was no camera. It was still raining when I got outside. The day’s first light was gray and feeble. I walked in my wet shoes until I found a cab, then made my way back to the hotel.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Last Empress by Barry Eisler, 2015
The narrator reflects on fear, guilt, and the inevitability of loss, realizing that confronting the future brings painful clarity.
In simple terms: Facing fear reveals painful truths about loss.
Key Takeaway
Acknowledge fear and act despite uncertainty.
Themes
fear
guilt
loss
anticipation
Mood
melancholic
reflective
Type
narrative
introspective
When to use this quote
- personal crisis
- relationship breakup
- career decision
- health diagnosis
Key Concepts
psychology
existentialism
memory
Questions to Reflect On
- What fears are you avoiding?
- How does acknowledging loss change your actions?
A Different Perspective
The insight may be overly dramatic, not universally applicable.
![“Gerber, who studied seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ottoman court decisions, points to examples of Ottoman muftis (official jurists) who, despite being paid by the government, “did not hesitate to speak out against the government when [they] came face to face with an injustice.” quote by Mustafa Akyol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/790/mustafa-akyol-15064_face-to-face_gerber-who-studied-seventeenth-and-eight_22267.jpg)
