--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We deceive ourselves into thinking life…" description: "\"“We deceive ourselves into thinking life is long, but fire reminds us-it is flickering. Life is a flickering-and then it is gone. So, we must make the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/jesse-ball-10640_color_we-deceive-ourselves-into-thinking-life_2976645.jpg" --- # We deceive ourselves into thinking life is long, but fire… ![“We deceive ourselves into thinking life is long, but fire reminds us-it is flickering. Life is a flickering-and then it is gone. So, we must make the most of it. Fire is red. It is yellow. It is blue. It is black as ash, brown as seared lines on timbers. Fire is the pink of flesh, and the gray of…” quote by Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/jesse-ball-10640_color_we-deceive-ourselves-into-thinking-life_2976645.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/jesse-ball-10640_color_we-deceive-ourselves-into-thinking-life_2976645.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/jesse-ball-10640_color_we-deceive-ourselves-into-thinking-life_2976645.jpg) > ““We deceive ourselves into thinking life is long, but fire reminds us-it is flickering. Life is a flickering-and then it is gone. So, we must make the most of it. Fire is red. It is yellow. It is blue. It is black as ash, brown as seared lines on timbers. Fire is the pink of flesh, and the gray of smoke that trails. Fire is the all-color that dwells before color, that which comes when one feels a fire will be set...”” [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is brief and unpredictable like fire; we must cherish it, recognizing its many colors and fleeting nature. **In simple terms:** Life is short; enjoy it while it lasts. Key Takeaway Live fully, appreciate each moment. Themes mortality impermanence appreciation Mood contemplative poetic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal reflection - artistic creation - mindfulness practice Key Concepts existentialism symbolism Questions to Reflect On - What does fire symbolize for you? - How do you make the most of limited time? A Different Perspective Focusing on fleeting moments can cause anxiety about loss. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) [Fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fire/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ## Related quotes > [... life is a flickering candle we all carry around. A gust of wind, a meaningless accident, a microsecond of carelessness, and it's out. Forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wong/life-is-a-flickering-candle-we-all-carry-around-a-gust-of-wind-a/) [David Wong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wong/) > [Thinking is a wonderful tool if it's applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you're dominated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/thinking-is-a-wonderful-tool-if-it-s-applied-thinking-however-can-not/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Before I get into a place of creating a body of work, I'm usually thinking about the life lessons that I have learned and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doechii/before-i-get-into-a-place-of-creating-a-body-of-work-i-m-usually/) [Doechii](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doechii/) > [Stop thinking about life and choose to live it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/stop-thinking-about-life-and-choose-to-live-it/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I started thinking about how life is a lot like getting pushed out of a plane. 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How will he react…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehek-bassi/it-s-funny-how-for-an-entire-lifetime-we-keep-thinking-how-will-our/) [Mehek Bassi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehek-bassi/) > [People are born, they have a limited amount of time going around thinking life is dandy but then, inevitably, tragedy strikes and they realize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dominic-west/people-are-born-they-have-a-limited-amount-of-time-going-around/) [Dominic West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dominic-west/) > [There's no point thinking, 'Well, my life's certainly worked out, I've got all the answers.' It would be wrong for me to say that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-fassbender/there-s-no-point-thinking-well-my-life-s-certainly-worked-out-i-ve/) [Michael Fassbender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-fassbender/) > [Most of the time you are thinking about life, not living life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaggi-vasudev/most-of-the-time-you-are-thinking-about-life-not-living-life/) [Jaggi Vasudev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaggi-vasudev/) > [“It's not stupid. I guess havin' hope is better that givin' up and thinking life will such forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-elkeles/it-s-not-stupid-i-guess-havin-hope-is-better-that-givin-up-and/) [Simone Elkeles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-elkeles/) > [Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-roosevelt/do-not-stop-thinking-of-life-as-an-adventure-you-have-no-security/) [Eleanor Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-roosevelt/) > [Everybody knows what they were kind of drawn towards or what they're gifted at and it's more of courage and looking at yourself and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-greene/everybody-knows-what-they-were-kind-of-drawn-towards-or-what-they-re/) [Robert Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-greene/) > [I get to thinking about my life, and it sometimes makes me want to make it interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cee-lo-green/i-get-to-thinking-about-my-life-and-it-sometimes-makes-me-want-to/) [Cee Lo Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cee-lo-green/) ## More by Jesse Ball > [“-Lara is a weasel. I've always hated her. The only happy week I had as a child was when she fell from the roof…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/lara-is-a-weasel-i-ve-always-hated-her-the-only-happy-week-i-had-as-a/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [I'd say writing is easier for me now than it once was, but I do less of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/i-d-say-writing-is-easier-for-me-now-than-it-once-was-but-i-do-less/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [“Our knowledge about ourselves is our least reliable knowledge. Yet, so thoroughly do we ordinarily champion our own cause that it is acknowledged effective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/our-knowledge-about-ourselves-is-our-least-reliable-knowledge-yet-so/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [Not that believing such things has anything to do with whether they are true. You see that, don't you?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/not-that-believing-such-things-has-anything-to-do-with-whether-they/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [“We are born in this cemetery, but must not despair. -Piet Soron, 1847”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/we-are-born-in-this-cemetery-but-must-not-despair-piet-soron-1847/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [I have a different purpose in writing each novel. Some of them seem more similar than others, but the purposes are always different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/i-have-a-different-purpose-in-writing-each-novel-some-of-them-seem/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [Americans are genuinely and profoundly anti-intellectual. They are especially so in their pleasure-seeking, which is epically banal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/americans-are-genuinely-and-profoundly-anti-intellectual-they-are/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [Sunday was always the best of days for being the self you had intended to be, but were not, for one reason or another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/sunday-was-always-the-best-of-days-for-being-the-self-you-had/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [I don't think anything needs to happen in a book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/i-don-t-think-anything-needs-to-happen-in-a-book/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [“Can you imagine? That you can say something, offhand, and it can matter, it can really matter to someone else? Can you imagine what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/can-you-imagine-that-you-can-say-something-offhand-and-it-can-matter/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [One can't say how one behaved or why, really. Such situations, they are far more complex than any either/or proposition. It is simplistic to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/one-can-t-say-how-one-behaved-or-why-really-such-situations-they-are/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [“One cultivates one's life, one's friends, one's means, one's hopes. One goes from place to place, from triumph to triumph, in search of ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/one-cultivates-one-s-life-one-s-friends-one-s-means-one-s-hopes-one/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [“The whole thing about people living on in memory is a crock of shit. The best you can do is try to remember what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/the-whole-thing-about-people-living-on-in-memory-is-a-crock-of-shit/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [That would be the death of anyone - to recognize false hopes with a certainty. One mustn't know that. If it is offered, refuse!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/that-would-be-the-death-of-anyone-to-recognize-false-hopes-with-a/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) > [I believe in discovering the love that exists and then trying to understand it. Not to invent a love and try to make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ball/i-believe-in-discovering-the-love-that-exists-and-then-trying-to/) [Jesse Ball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) [Explore all 63 Jesse Ball quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ball/) ## More Color quotes > [We never really perceive what color is physically!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/we-never-really-perceive-what-color-is-physically/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The color of somebody's skin or the way he wears his hair or clothes has nothing to do with anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-color-of-somebody-s-skin-or-the-way-he-wears-his-hair-or-clothes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > ['Lovecraft Country' is reclaiming all these pulp genres for people of color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-green/lovecraft-country-is-reclaiming-all-these-pulp-genres-for-people-of/) [Misha Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-green/) > [When I haven't any blue I use red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-i-haven-t-any-blue-i-use-red/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [A well-fashioned day - with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/a-well-fashioned-day-with-a-beginning-and-an-end-a-purpose-and-a/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [If you're white and you're wrong, then you're wrong; if you're black and you're wrong, you're wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-marley/if-you-re-white-and-you-re-wrong-then-you-re-wrong-if-you-re-black/) [Bob Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-marley/) > [Today, at Harvard, any student with the currently fashionable color of skin is given rights denied to students of the currently unfashionable color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-capp/today-at-harvard-any-student-with-the-currently-fashionable-color-of/) [Al Capp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-capp/) > [Orange is my favorite color overall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-earnhardt-jr/orange-is-my-favorite-color-overall/) [Dale Earnhardt Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-earnhardt-jr/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [We have to keep in practice like musicians. Besides, there are still potentialities to be realized in color film. To us, it's just like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-land/we-have-to-keep-in-practice-like-musicians-besides-there-are-still/) [Edwin Land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-land/) > [Truth needs no color; beauty, no pencil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/truth-needs-no-color-beauty-no-pencil/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists; not that the child shall know colors, forms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/it-is-exactly-in-the-repetition-of-the-exercises-that-the-education/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) [Browse all 5,594 Color quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We deceive ourselves into thinking life is long, but fire reminds us-it is flickering. 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