--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am afraid I am going to drift into…" description: "\"“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today and which might have e..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/leonora-carrington-13249_balance_i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fic_75838.jpg" --- # I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but… ![“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today and which might have enlightened us. This morning, the idea of the egg came again to my mind and I thought that I could use it as a crystal to look at Madrid in those…” quote by Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/leonora-carrington-13249_balance_i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fic_75838.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/leonora-carrington-13249_balance_i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fic_75838.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/leonora-carrington-13249_balance_i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fic_75838.jpg) > ““I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today and which might have enlightened us. This morning, the idea of the egg came again to my mind and I thought that I could use it as a crystal to look at Madrid in those days of July and August 1940—for why should it not enclose my own experiences as well as the past and future history of the Universe? The egg is the macrocosm and the microcosm, the dividing line between the Big and the Small which makes it impossible to see the whole. To possess a telescope without its other essential half—the microscope—seems to me a symbol of the darkest incomprehension. The task of the right eye is to peer into the telescope, while the left eye peers into the microscope.”” [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker worries about missing details that could illuminate understanding, using the egg as a metaphor for a lens that unites personal experience with universal history, emphasizing the need for both macro and micro perspectives. **In simple terms:** Balancing broad view with fine detail. Key Takeaway Seeing the whole requires both telescope and microscope. Themes metaphor perspective history knowledge self‑reflection Mood curious reflective introspective Type philosophical metaphorical When to use this quote - writing memoirs - historical analysis - scientific research - philosophical contemplation Key Concepts egg as macrocosm dual vision incompleteness time Practical Applications - creative writing - interdisciplinary studies Questions to Reflect On - How does focusing on details change our view of the larger picture? - What symbols can serve as both magnifier and container? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Balance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/balance/) [Chicken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chicken/) [Egg Came](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egg-came-982131/) [Egg Macrocosm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egg-macrocosm-982130/) [Enlightenment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enlightenment/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Idea Egg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idea-egg-982132/) [Incompleteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompleteness/) [Left eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-eye/) [Microscope Symbol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/microscope-symbol-982133/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Past and future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-and-future/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand/) [Universe Egg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe-egg-982129/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) [Wholeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wholeness/) ## Related quotes > [“The second thing I thought was that I knew everything. Lettie Hempstock's ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe, from Egg…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-second-thing-i-thought-was-that-i-knew-everything-lettie/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [I used to help my dad with a stall selling eggs when I was about 12. People were so hard up they would ask…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/i-used-to-help-my-dad-with-a-stall-selling-eggs-when-i-was-about-12/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-carle/one-sunday-morning-the-warm-sun-came-up-and-pop-out-of-the-egg-came-a/) [Eric Carle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-carle/) > [In whatever you do, if you leave a sense of incompleteness, then Creation cannot resent you, ghosts and spirits cannot harm you. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-whatever-you-do-if-you-leave-a-sense-of-incompleteness-then/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists. . . . When we are parted, we each feel the lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aroha-janet/today-i-begin-to-understand-what-love-must-be-if-it-exists-when-we/) [Aroha Janet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aroha-janet/) > [“The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-true-genius-shudders-at-incompleteness-imperfection-and-usually/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [ ...Bliss is not something to be got. On the other hand you are always Bliss. This desire \[for Bliss\] is born of the sense… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/bliss-is-not-something-to-be-got-on-the-other-hand-you-are-always/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned. I can make no statement about reality clearer than my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/this-superficial-blurring-has-something-to-do-with-the-incapacity-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/the-biography-of-a-writer-or-even-the-autobiography-will-always-have/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [“Egoism is itself incompleteness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/egoism-is-itself-incompleteness/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [Our emotional life maps our incompleteness: A creature without any needs would never have reasons for fear, or grief, or hope, or anger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/our-emotional-life-maps-our-incompleteness-a-creature-without-any/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [ “Interesting-sounding, supposed applications of the incompleteness theorem \[here earlier taken explicitly to refer to the incompleteness theorems as a whole\] outside mathematics, therefore, often… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torkel-franz/interesting-sounding-supposed-applications-of-the-incompleteness/) [Torkel Franz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torkel-franz/) > [How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. . . . We are to find God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/how-wrong-it-is-to-use-god-as-a-stop-gap-for-the-incompleteness-of/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/every-part-is-disposed-to-unite-with-the-whole-that-it-may-thereby/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [For me, there's the certain focus points that come out, which could reference a song or a pop disco, or something really abstract. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-tompkins/for-me-there-s-the-certain-focus-points-that-come-out-which-could/) [Sue Tompkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-tompkins/) ## More by Leonora Carrington > [“Even though you won't believe me my story is beautiful And the serpent that sang it Sang it from out of the well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/even-though-you-won-t-believe-me-my-story-is-beautiful-and-the/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [Reason must know the heart's reasons and every other reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/reason-must-know-the-heart-s-reasons-and-every-other-reason/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [People under seventy and over seven are very unreliable if they are not cats.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/people-under-seventy-and-over-seven-are-very-unreliable-if-they-are/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [One is born, one lives, one dies. What death is, I don't know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/one-is-born-one-lives-one-dies-what-death-is-i-don-t-know/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [“Do not give up hope entirely in spite of the horror of your situation. I am mobilising all my mental capacities to obtain your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/do-not-give-up-hope-entirely-in-spite-of-the-horror-of-your-situation/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [One has to be careful what one takes when one goes away forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/one-has-to-be-careful-what-one-takes-when-one-goes-away-forever/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [Wouldn't it be wonderful if I won a helicopter in a crossword puzzle competition? There is not much hope though I am afraid, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/wouldn-t-it-be-wonderful-if-i-won-a-helicopter-in-a-crossword-puzzle/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [“Darling stop being philosophical, it doesn’t suit you, it makes your nose red.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/darling-stop-being-philosophical-it-doesn-t-suit-you-it-makes-your/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [You may not believe in magic but something very strange is happening at this very moment. Your head has dissolved into thin air and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/you-may-not-believe-in-magic-but-something-very-strange-is-happening/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [I didn't have time to be anybody's muse; I was too busy rebelling against my parents and learning to be an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/i-didn-t-have-time-to-be-anybody-s-muse-i-was-too-busy-rebelling/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [Painting is my vehicle of transit. I don't always know where I am going or what it means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/painting-is-my-vehicle-of-transit-i-don-t-always-know-where-i-am/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [ \[At age 92:\] There are places I'd like to return to. But not as I was then but as I am now. 'Cause I'm… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/at-age-92-there-are-places-i-d-like-to-return-to-but-not-as-i-was/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [I didn't have time to be anyone's muse... I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/i-didn-t-have-time-to-be-anyone-s-muse-i-was-too-busy-rebelling/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [What would anyone want to write about me for? I'm just an old lady.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/what-would-anyone-want-to-write-about-me-for-i-m-just-an-old-lady/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [Thousands of people know my flannel knickers, and though I know this may seem flirtatious, it is not. I am a saint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/thousands-of-people-know-my-flannel-knickers-and-though-i-know-this/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) [Explore all 51 Leonora Carrington quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) ## More Balance quotes > [Balance suggests a perfect equilibrium. There is no such thing. That is a false expectation… There are going to be priorities and dimensions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-morrison/balance-suggests-a-perfect-equilibrium-there-is-no-such-thing-that-is/) [Denise Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-morrison/) > [The bones of my architecture are very much related to the structure, to the physical fact of how a building can stand up; it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/santiago-calatrava/the-bones-of-my-architecture-are-very-much-related-to-the-structure/) [Santiago Calatrava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/santiago-calatrava/) > [I can still function when I don't have that balance I crave. I had a tendency to be precious about acting, thinking of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-regan/i-can-still-function-when-i-don-t-have-that-balance-i-crave-i-had-a/) [Laura Regan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-regan/) > [she got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-allison/she-got-a-reputation-for-an-easy-smile-and-a-sharp-tongue-and-using/) [Dorothy Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-allison/) > [Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-h-humphrey/life-s-unfairness-is-not-irrevocable-we-can-help-balance-the-scales/) [Hubert H. Humphrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-h-humphrey/) > [“We don't need to strive towards balance, we rather need to work on the obstacles that are preventing the natural flow of balance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-alebraheem/we-don-t-need-to-strive-towards-balance-we-rather-need-to-work-on-the/) [A.A. Alebraheem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-a-alebraheem/) > [I think that kind of balance comes with the process of growing together as a band, the Little Dragon. We love to write, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yukimi-nagano/i-think-that-kind-of-balance-comes-with-the-process-of-growing/) [Yukimi Nagano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yukimi-nagano/) > [Balance is the ability to be happy in the midst of the most chaotic or even boring or transient circumstance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/balance-is-the-ability-to-be-happy-in-the-midst-of-the-most-chaotic/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [At times of recession, running a budget deficit is highly desirable. Once the economy begins to recover, you have to balance the budget. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/at-times-of-recession-running-a-budget-deficit-is-highly-desirable/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [It's my intention to make something stand outside the realm of album art, but it also feels comfortable to me to be in it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dyer-baizley/it-s-my-intention-to-make-something-stand-outside-the-realm-of-album/) [John Dyer Baizley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dyer-baizley/) > [Once you've gotten your money in balance, you know how much you have to spend on things that are just fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-warren/once-you-ve-gotten-your-money-in-balance-you-know-how-much-you-have/) [Elizabeth Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-warren/) > [I never understood how much running changes your life. I'm now obsessed. When not trying to beat my personal best, I'm talking to other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadiq-khan/i-never-understood-how-much-running-changes-your-life-i-m-now/) [Sadiq Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadiq-khan/) > [Whatever needed to be done, I need to know how to do it just as well as my wife. You know, for us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-isbell/whatever-needed-to-be-done-i-need-to-know-how-to-do-it-just-as-well/) [Jason Isbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-isbell/) > [I don't think my parents would have let me go straight into acting full time when I was 12. I do like to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-don-t-think-my-parents-would-have-let-me-go-straight-into-acting/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [When it comes down to music, I have no balance. I am 100 percent. It is like full throttle. Five hundred miles an hour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yanni/when-it-comes-down-to-music-i-have-no-balance-i-am-100-percent-it-is/) [Yanni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yanni/) [Browse all 5,166 Balance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/balance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today and which might have enlightened us. This morning, the idea of the egg came again to my mind and I thought that I could use it as a crystal to look at Madrid in those days of July and August 1940—for why should it not enclose my own experiences as well as the past and future history of the Universe? The egg is the macrocosm and the microcosm, the dividing line between the Big and the Small which makes it impossible to see the whole. 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