Books Quote by Milorad Pavic
““And he gave me a few of the Xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in front of him. As he passed them to me, his thumb brushed mine and I trembled from the touch. I had the sensation that our past and our future were in our fingers and that they had touched. And so, when I began to read the proffered pages, I at one moment lost the train of thought in the text and drowned it in my own feelings. In these seconds of absence and self-oblivion, centuries passed with every read but uncomprehended and unabsorbed line, and when, after a few moments, I came to and re-established contact with the text, I knew that the reader who returns from the open seas of his feelings is no longer the same reader who embarked on that sea only a short while ago. I gained and learned more by not reading than by reading those pages...””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Unbearable Lightness of Being? (fiction) by Milorad Pavic, 1970
Reading becomes a tactile, emotional experience where the act of touching the pages merges past and future, leading to a transformative loss of self and a deeper, non‑linear understanding.
In simple terms: Reading can dissolve self, merging time and feeling.
Key Takeaway
Allow reading to be felt, not just understood.
Themes
transcendence
memory
time
emotion
identity
Mood
reflective
introspective
poetic
Type
literary
philosophical
experiential
When to use this quote
- intimate reading
- creative writing
- mindfulness practice
- literary analysis
Key Concepts
phenomenology
subjectivity
literary immersion
Questions to Reflect On
- How does physical touch alter perception?
- What does “lost the train of thought” reveal about focus?
A Different Perspective
Risk of over‑interpretation or losing factual comprehension.
