--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: nothing is more opaque than absolute…" description: "\"“nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency. Look--my feet don't hit the marble! Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising, I hover six inches in the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/margaret-atwood-40_poetry-quotes_nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-tra_1871132.jpg" --- # nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency… ![“nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency. Look--my feet don't hit the marble! Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising, I hover six inches in the air in my blazing swan-egg of light. You think I'm not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. Touch me and you'll burn.” quote by Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/margaret-atwood-40_poetry-quotes_nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-tra_1871132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/margaret-atwood-40_poetry-quotes_nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-tra_1871132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/margaret-atwood-40_poetry-quotes_nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-tra_1871132.jpg) > ““nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency. Look--my feet don't hit the marble! Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising, I hover six inches in the air in my blazing swan-egg of light. You think I'm not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. Touch me and you'll burn.”” [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Absolute transparency can be deceptive; true clarity often hides deeper complexities and paradoxes. **In simple terms:** Transparency can hide truth. Key Takeaway Question appearances and seek hidden depth. Themes perception truth illusion power gender Mood thoughtful critical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - literary analysis - social commentary - personal introspection Key Concepts postmodernism feminist critique existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How does transparency affect power dynamics? - When does clarity become a veil? A Different Perspective The metaphor may obscure practical realities behind lofty ideals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Opaque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opaque/) [Poetry quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-quotes/) ## Related quotes > [“Nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-transparency/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [But nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/but-nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-transparency/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [You think I'm not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. Touch me and you'll burn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/you-think-i-m-not-a-goddess-try-me-this-is-a-torch-song-touch-me-and/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [I've come to believe that total nakedness, that is absolute transparency, that is utter and unfettered and profound visibility, is the only way that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/i-ve-come-to-believe-that-total-nakedness-that-is-absolute/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [“The editor wants something a little more oblique, a little less opaque. Let the reader watch you / dissolve.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-kent/the-editor-wants-something-a-little-more-oblique-a-little-less-opaque/) Aaron Kent > [In Torch Song, I did that character almost non-stop from 1978 until I made the movie in 1987. 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I want all my hurts to be intentional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/and-yet-it-disturbs-me-to-learn-i-have-hurt-someone-unintentionally-i/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Mary: Some call this "Eve's curse," but I think that is stupid because the real curse of Eve was having to put up with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/mary-some-call-this-eve-s-curse-but-i-think-that-is-stupid-because/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The birds were singing around me, but I reflected that the very birds were strangers to me, for I did not even know their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-birds-were-singing-around-me-but-i-reflected-that-the-very-birds/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Strange how we decorate pain. These ribbons, for instance, and the small hard teardrops of blood. Who are they for? 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I am forgetting too much.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/it-s-my-fault-i-am-forgetting-too-much/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/all-fiction-is-about-people-unless-it-s-about-rabbits-pretending-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Simon walks back to the house alone. The night is clear and warm, with a moon, almost full, enclosed in a nimbus of mist;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/simon-walks-back-to-the-house-alone-the-night-is-clear-and-warm-with/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“There is indeed something delightful about being able to combine obedience and disobedience in the same act.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/there-is-indeed-something-delightful-about-being-able-to-combine/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Every time the women appear, Snowman is astonished all over again. They're every known colour from the deepest black to whitest white, they're various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/every-time-the-women-appear-snowman-is-astonished-all-over-again-they/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Once you publish a book, it is out of your control. You cannot dictate how people read it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/once-you-publish-a-book-it-is-out-of-your-control-you-cannot-dictate/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The more difficult it was to love the particular man beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total. We were waiting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-more-difficult-it-was-to-love-the-particular-man-beside-us-the/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“She knows she's deceiving herself about that, but she prefers to deceive herself. She desperately needs to believe such pure joy is still possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/she-knows-she-s-deceiving-herself-about-that-but-she-prefers-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) [Explore all 2,072 Margaret Atwood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More Opaque quotes > [“However, if application A is opaque and application B provides a rich set of observability tools, it’s very likely that application B will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-gregg/however-if-application-a-is-opaque-and-application-b-provides-a-rich/) Brendan Gregg > [No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/no-one-has-ever-laughed-at-a-pun-who-did-not-see-in-the-one-word-a/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [The new experience that has replaced dignified suffering is artificially prolonged, opaque, depersonalized maintenance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-new-experience-that-has-replaced-dignified-suffering-is/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“Nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/nothing-is-more-opaque-than-absolute-transparency/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [ History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, \[...\] The generator of historical events is different from the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/history-is-opaque-you-see-what-comes-out-not-the-script-that-produces/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [No one can cross the boundary into another -- for the simple reason that no one can gain access to himself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/no-one-can-cross-the-boundary-into-another-for-the-simple-reason-that/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [I've got spider veins all over my legs, so I wear opaque tights all winter. All sorts of colours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-phillips/i-ve-got-spider-veins-all-over-my-legs-so-i-wear-opaque-tights-all/) [Sally Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-phillips/) > [I'm interested in when language fails, when it is opaque.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-ligon/i-m-interested-in-when-language-fails-when-it-is-opaque/) [Glenn Ligon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-ligon/) > [Ready comprehension is often a knee-jerk response and the most dangerous form of understanding. It blinks an opaque screen over your ability to learn.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/ready-comprehension-is-often-a-knee-jerk-response-and-the-most/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [Derivatives serve practically no purpose except to enrich bankers through opaque pricing and to deceive investors through off-the-balance-sheet accounting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-rickards/derivatives-serve-practically-no-purpose-except-to-enrich-bankers/) [James Rickards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-rickards/) > [It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/it-is-good-that-the-window-should-be-transparent-because-the-street/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [If I were rich I would have many books, and I would pamper myself with bindings bright to the eye and soft to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/if-i-were-rich-i-would-have-many-books-and-i-would-pamper-myself-with/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [Things are opaque to us, and we are opaque to ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-maritain/things-are-opaque-to-us-and-we-are-opaque-to-ourselves/) [Jacques Maritain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-maritain/) > [Glamour is translucent — not transparent, not opaque. It invites us into the world but it doesn’t give us a completely clear picture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-postrel/glamour-is-translucent-not-transparent-not-opaque-it-invites-us-into/) [Virginia Postrel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-postrel/) > [The imagination is to the effect as the shadow to the opaque body which causes the shadow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/the-imagination-is-to-the-effect-as-the-shadow-to-the-opaque-body/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) [Browse all 99 Opaque quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opaque/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency. Look--my feet don't hit the marble! Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising, I hover six inches in the air in my blazing swan-egg of light. You think I'm not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. 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