--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We're all vanishing organisms and…" description: "\"We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in time that Kafka talked about with such pro..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg" --- # We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures… ![“We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in time that Kafka talked about with such profundity.” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg) > “We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in time that Kafka talked about with such profundity.” [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A philosophical view that humans are fleeting beings confronting mortality, echoing Kafka’s existential dread. **In simple terms:** We are temporary beings facing death, as Kafka noted. Key Takeaway Embrace life’s impermanence and act meaningfully. Themes existentialism mortality philosophy literature Mood thoughtful poignant Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic seminars - public talks - writing workshops - personal meditation Key Concepts Kafkaesque ontological temporal Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing impermanence affect your choices? - What actions become urgent when time feels limited? A Different Perspective May be overly abstract for everyday use. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Death sentence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-sentence/) [Disappear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappear/) [Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafka/) [Kafka Talked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafka-talked-2518957/) [Organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisms/) [Organisms Disappearing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisms-disappearing-2518955/) [Profundity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profundity/) [Sentences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentences/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Space and time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space-and-time/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time and space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-and-space/) [Time Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-kafka-2518956/) [Vanishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanishing/) [Vanishing Organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanishing-organisms-2518954/) ## Related quotes > [By the time Kafka was seven or eight years old, he already had a relatively dark view of the world derived from experiences in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reiner-stach/by-the-time-kafka-was-seven-or-eight-years-old-he-already-had-a/) [Reiner Stach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reiner-stach/) > [The amount of chiaroscuro an idea harbors is the only index of its profundity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/the-amount-of-chiaroscuro-an-idea-harbors-is-the-only-index-of-its/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [A man's profundity may keep him from opening on a first interview, and his caution on a second; but I should suspect his emptiness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/a-man-s-profundity-may-keep-him-from-opening-on-a-first-interview-and/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [The discipline of suffering, of great suffering- do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far? That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-discipline-of-suffering-of-great-suffering-do-you-not-know-that-2/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Relaxing with something as familiar as loneliness is good discipline for realizing the profundity of the unresolved moments of our lives. We are cheating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pema-ch-dr-n/relaxing-with-something-as-familiar-as-loneliness-is-good-discipline/) [Pema Chodron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pema-ch-dr-n/) > [In one sense what may pass between the pope and myself may be trivialities. In another sense the fact of talking trivialities is itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-fisher/in-one-sense-what-may-pass-between-the-pope-and-myself-may-be/) [Geoffrey Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-fisher/) > [You can't learn pathos or profundity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-kennedy/you-can-t-learn-pathos-or-profundity/) [Nigel Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-kennedy/) > [Could truth perhaps be a woman who has reasons for not permitting her reasons to be seen? Could her name perhaps be--to speak Greek--Baubo?...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/could-truth-perhaps-be-a-woman-who-has-reasons-for-not-permitting-her/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Jazz music celebrates life! Human life; the range of it, the absurdity of it, the ignorance of it, the greatness of it, the intelligence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/jazz-music-celebrates-life-human-life-the-range-of-it-the-absurdity/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [I'm glad that so many of Donald Pease's unique and revealing insights on Dr. Seuss--observations he shared with me on camera with an effusiveness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-lamothe/i-m-glad-that-so-many-of-donald-pease-s-unique-and-revealing-insights/) [Ron Lamothe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-lamothe/) > [Above all you must illumine your own soul with its profundities and its shallows, and its vanities and its generosities, and say what your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/above-all-you-must-illumine-your-own-soul-with-its-profundities-and/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [I think there's as much profundity and wisdom in Shakespeare, more so in fact, than those in the Bible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-coogan/i-think-there-s-as-much-profundity-and-wisdom-in-shakespeare-more-so/) [Steve Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-coogan/) > [In peace there is profundity from which the highest respect arises from respect comes power and command therefore observe peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akkineni-nagarjuna/in-peace-there-is-profundity-from-which-the-highest-respect-arises/) [Akkineni Nagarjuna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akkineni-nagarjuna/) > [The public easily confuses him who fishes in troubled waters with him who draws up water from the depths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-public-easily-confuses-him-who-fishes-in-troubled-waters-with-him/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [At first there is nothing, then there is a profound nothingness, after that a blue profundity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yves-klein/at-first-there-is-nothing-then-there-is-a-profound-nothingness-after/) [Yves Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yves-klein/) ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Explore all 400 Cornel West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## More Creatures quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/) [Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) [Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in time that Kafka talked about with such profundity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disappearing-creatures-in-space-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creatures" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disappearing-creatures-in-space-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/cornel-west-708_creatures_we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disapp_1051705.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cornel West", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We're all vanishing organisms and disappearing...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disappearing-creatures-in-space-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-re-all-vanishing-organisms-and-disappearing-creatures-in-space-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```