--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: …It was this white garment of mourning…" description: "\"“…It was this white garment of mourning which he still wore, the white mourning of surgical gowns so much more significant than black, since white is t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg" --- # …It was this white garment of mourning which he still… ![“…It was this white garment of mourning which he still wore, the white mourning of surgical gowns so much more significant than black, since white is the colour of obliteration whereas black, far from being the colour of emptiness and nothingness, is much more the active shade which makes the deep…” quote by Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg) > ““…It was this white garment of mourning which he still wore, the white mourning of surgical gowns so much more significant than black, since white is the colour of obliteration whereas black, far from being the colour of emptiness and nothingness, is much more the active shade which makes the deep and therefore dark substance of all things stand out, from the flight of despair whose magical blackness animates the blank parchment of the soul, to the supposedly sinister flight of the raven, whose croakings and cadaverous meals are but the joyful signs of physical metamorphoses, black as congelead blood or charred wood, but much less lugubrious than the deathly restfulness of white. Yet this desert whiteness did not rule out all subsequent possibilities, when it too would coagulate to form directions in blood and when it too would know the three congruences of putrefaction.”” [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage contrasts white surgical gowns, symbolizing erasure and death, with black, which highlights depth and transformation, suggesting that both colors embody different aspects of mortality and change. **In simple terms:** White erases; black reveals; both relate to death and change. Key Takeaway Recognize that endings can also be beginnings. Themes mortality transformation symbolism Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - hospital settings - artistic reflection - personal loss - creative writing Key Concepts existentialism color theory Questions to Reflect On - How does color influence your perception of loss? - Can darkness be a source of insight? A Different Perspective White may also signify sterility, limiting emotional nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blackness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blackness/) [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) ## Related quotes > [Sure, I’m dramatic and sloppily semi-cynical and semi-sentimental. But, in leisure years I could grow and choose my way. Now I am living on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/sure-i-m-dramatic-and-sloppily-semi-cynical-and-semi-sentimental-but/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [It made her think of Laika, the dog. The man-made satellite streaking soundlessly across the blackness of outer space. The dark, lustrous eyes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/it-made-her-think-of-laika-the-dog-the-man-made-satellite-streaking/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [all outcast peoples struggle to be recognized as individuals. The damage of oppression is that it robs you of your individuality. You're just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/all-outcast-peoples-struggle-to-be-recognized-as-individuals-the/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [“A Black Madonna: the blackness of death, but also the blackness of good soil, dark with decay, which gives rise to life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/a-black-madonna-the-blackness-of-death-but-also-the-blackness-of-good/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-williams/there-s-so-much-material-out-there-that-s-unnecessarily-racist-it/) [Jesse Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-williams/) > [Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when when the stars are strung across the velvety…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-williams/life-is-fleeting-and-if-you-re-ever-distressed-cast-your-eyes-to-the/) [Robin Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-williams/) > [If you have money and you have fame, but you don't have any confidence in your blackness, then it's all for nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mooney/if-you-have-money-and-you-have-fame-but-you-don-t-have-any-confidence/) [Paul Mooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mooney/) > [I kept staring into the blackness of the woods, drawn into the darkness as I always had been. I suddenly realized how alone I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-easton-ellis/i-kept-staring-into-the-blackness-of-the-woods-drawn-into-the/) [Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/) > [I'm just challenging white supremacy at its intellectual heart every day. It's a pedagogy that I deploy against some of the most vicious resistance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/i-m-just-challenging-white-supremacy-at-its-intellectual-heart-every/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) > [Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/despair-was-a-heavy-blackness-that-let-no-light-in-or-out-it-was-a/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) > [One time he was asked if he believed in an afterlife. After a moment's hesitation he said no, that he thought there was only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/one-time-he-was-asked-if-he-believed-in-an-afterlife-after-a-moment-s/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [As a queer woman of colour I've been asked to be more urban, as if my brand of Blackness wasn't quite Black enough. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariana-debose/as-a-queer-woman-of-colour-i-ve-been-asked-to-be-more-urban-as-if-my/) [Ariana DeBose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariana-debose/) > [You know,” he said, “I wish you could see this cave.” “What’s it like?” He paused. “It’s...beautiful, really.” “Tell me.” And so Po described…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-cashore/you-know-he-said-i-wish-you-could-see-this-cave-what-s-it-like-he/) [Kristin Cashore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-cashore/) > [“The worst fear of the race yes, the world suddenly transformed into a senseless nightmare, horrible dissolution of things. Nothing compares, even oblivion is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-worst-fear-of-the-race-yes-the-world-suddenly-transformed-into-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/the-blackness-would-stir-and-eventually-go-away-and-god-would-remain/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) ## More by Michel Leiris > [Fascism: awful stench of saw and axe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/fascism-awful-stench-of-saw-and-axe/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“..the sense of a catastrophe perpetually invoked and avoided creates a rapture in whose depths horror and pleasure coincide...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/the-sense-of-a-catastrophe-perpetually-invoked-and-avoided-creates-a/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [If a dream affords the dreamer some light on himself, it is not the person with closed eyes who makes the discovery but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/if-a-dream-affords-the-dreamer-some-light-on-himself-it-is-not-the/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“Always beneath or above concrete events, I remain a prisoner of this alternative: the world as a real object that dominates me and devours…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/always-beneath-or-above-concrete-events-i-remain-a-prisoner-of-this/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [I am imbued with the notion that a Muse is necessarily a dead woman, inaccessible or absent; that a poetic structure - like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/i-am-imbued-with-the-notion-that-a-muse-is-necessarily-a-dead-woman/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“Midway between the too soiled ground and the too-sublime vaults, at the level of the air, entering the skin of the role, poetry plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/midway-between-the-too-soiled-ground-and-the-too-sublime-vaults-at/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“And the beautiful lady, still with her beautiful wasp’s waist, the very beautiful lady whose charms buzz around our childish dreams, will not turn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/and-the-beautiful-lady-still-with-her-beautiful-wasp-s-waist-the-very/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“When the human voice is reduced to being no longer a song, a word, or a cry, but the articulation of the unnamable itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/when-the-human-voice-is-reduced-to-being-no-longer-a-song-a-word-or-a/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“at man’s height the mouth utters its cries, tosses forth its oracles, gives vent to its puns. To allow words to come to life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/at-man-s-height-the-mouth-utters-its-cries-tosses-forth-its-oracles/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“poetry’s favourite moment is when one loses one’s footing because of a landslide or seismic shaking of thought”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/poetry-s-favourite-moment-is-when-one-loses-one-s-footing-because-of/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [Nothing seems more like a whorehouse to me than a museum. In it you find the same equivocal aspect, the same frozen quality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/nothing-seems-more-like-a-whorehouse-to-me-than-a-museum-in-it-you/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“Pessimism is a towering skyscraper eighty stories high in the suburbs of the soul at the end of a long avenue with waste ground…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/pessimism-is-a-towering-skyscraper-eighty-stories-high-in-the-suburbs/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) [Explore all 13 Michel Leiris quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) ## More Blackness quotes > [Sure, I’m dramatic and sloppily semi-cynical and semi-sentimental. But, in leisure years I could grow and choose my way. Now I am living on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/sure-i-m-dramatic-and-sloppily-semi-cynical-and-semi-sentimental-but/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“The worst fear of the race yes, the world suddenly transformed into a senseless nightmare, horrible dissolution of things. Nothing compares, even oblivion is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-worst-fear-of-the-race-yes-the-world-suddenly-transformed-into-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [You know,” he said, “I wish you could see this cave.” “What’s it like?” He paused. “It’s...beautiful, really.” “Tell me.” And so Po described…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-cashore/you-know-he-said-i-wish-you-could-see-this-cave-what-s-it-like-he/) [Kristin Cashore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-cashore/) > [As a queer woman of colour I've been asked to be more urban, as if my brand of Blackness wasn't quite Black enough. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariana-debose/as-a-queer-woman-of-colour-i-ve-been-asked-to-be-more-urban-as-if-my/) [Ariana DeBose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariana-debose/) > [One time he was asked if he believed in an afterlife. After a moment's hesitation he said no, that he thought there was only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/one-time-he-was-asked-if-he-believed-in-an-afterlife-after-a-moment-s/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/despair-was-a-heavy-blackness-that-let-no-light-in-or-out-it-was-a/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) > [I'm just challenging white supremacy at its intellectual heart every day. It's a pedagogy that I deploy against some of the most vicious resistance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/i-m-just-challenging-white-supremacy-at-its-intellectual-heart-every/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) > [I kept staring into the blackness of the woods, drawn into the darkness as I always had been. I suddenly realized how alone I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-easton-ellis/i-kept-staring-into-the-blackness-of-the-woods-drawn-into-the/) [Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/) > [If you have money and you have fame, but you don't have any confidence in your blackness, then it's all for nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mooney/if-you-have-money-and-you-have-fame-but-you-don-t-have-any-confidence/) [Paul Mooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mooney/) > [Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when when the stars are strung across the velvety…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-williams/life-is-fleeting-and-if-you-re-ever-distressed-cast-your-eyes-to-the/) [Robin Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-williams/) > [There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-williams/there-s-so-much-material-out-there-that-s-unnecessarily-racist-it/) [Jesse Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-williams/) > [“A Black Madonna: the blackness of death, but also the blackness of good soil, dark with decay, which gives rise to life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/a-black-madonna-the-blackness-of-death-but-also-the-blackness-of-good/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [all outcast peoples struggle to be recognized as individuals. The damage of oppression is that it robs you of your individuality. You're just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/all-outcast-peoples-struggle-to-be-recognized-as-individuals-the/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [It made her think of Laika, the dog. The man-made satellite streaking soundlessly across the blackness of outer space. The dark, lustrous eyes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/it-made-her-think-of-laika-the-dog-the-man-made-satellite-streaking/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/the-blackness-would-stir-and-eventually-go-away-and-god-would-remain/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) [Browse all 248 Blackness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blackness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“…It was this white garment of mourning which he still wore, the white mourning of surgical gowns so much more significant than black, since white is the colour of obliteration whereas black, far from being the colour of emptiness and nothingness, is much more the active shade which makes the deep and therefore dark substance of all things stand out, from the flight of despair whose magical blackness animates the blank parchment of the soul, to the supposedly sinister flight of the raven, whose croakings and cadaverous meals are but the joyful signs of physical metamorphoses, black as congelead blood or charred wood, but much less lugubrious than the deathly restfulness of white. Yet this desert whiteness did not rule out all subsequent possibilities, when it too would coagulate to form directions in blood and when it too would know the three congruences of putrefaction.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Leiris" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-which-he-still-wore-the-white/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Blackness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-which-he-still-wore-the-white/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/michel-leiris-36286_blackness_it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-wh_2644651.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“…It was this white garment of mourning which he still wore, the white mourning of surgical gowns so much…” — Michel Leiris", "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": "Michel Leiris", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“…It was this white garment of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-which-he-still-wore-the-white/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/it-was-this-white-garment-of-mourning-which-he-still-wore-the-white/#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 } } ] } ```