--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At present, [in the desert] an…" description: "\"At present, [in the desert] an exasperating clarity reigns. The sky has become less visible than water in a jar. Black peaks, spines of granite, a twis..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9bd/mohammed-dib-57734_all-that-remains_at-present-in-the-desert-an-exasperating_2311683.jpg" --- # At present, \[in the desert\] an exasperating clarity… ![“At present, [in the desert] an exasperating clarity reigns. The sky has become less visible than water in a jar. Black peaks, spines of granite, a twisted tree are sculpted in this atmosphere basted with reflections. All that remains: a countryside of imperishable contours.” quote by Mohammed Dib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9bd/mohammed-dib-57734_all-that-remains_at-present-in-the-desert-an-exasperating_2311683.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9bd/mohammed-dib-57734_all-that-remains_at-present-in-the-desert-an-exasperating_2311683.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9bd/mohammed-dib-57734_all-that-remains_at-present-in-the-desert-an-exasperating_2311683.jpg) > “At present, \[in the desert\] an exasperating clarity reigns. The sky has become less visible than water in a jar. Black peaks, spines of granite, a twisted tree are sculpted in this atmosphere basted with reflections. All that remains: a countryside of imperishable contours.” [Mohammed Dib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-dib/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In a harsh desert, clarity emerges, revealing stark, enduring forms that persist despite harsh conditions. **In simple terms:** Harsh environments reveal clear, lasting shapes. Key Takeaway Find clarity in adversity. Themes adversity clarity endurance Mood contemplative poetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - survival - artistic inspiration - personal growth Key Concepts existential reflection environmental metaphor Questions to Reflect On - What does the desert symbolize for you? - How does clarity arise in difficult times? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [All that remains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/all-that-remains/) [Atmosphere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atmosphere/) [Basted Reflections](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basted-reflections-5493179/) [Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black/) [Clarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clarity/) [Countryside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/countryside/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Desert Exasperating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert-exasperating-5493177/) [Granite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/granite/) [Jars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jars/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Present Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/present-desert-5493178/) [Reflection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reflection/) [Reign](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reign/) [Remains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remains/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Sky Visible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky-visible-2267828/) [Spine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spine/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trees/) [Twisted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twisted/) [Visible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/visible/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [“Seen from inside the bar, the avenue, the stores opposite, the street glimpsed going off at right angles, the trapezoid of sky visible above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/seen-from-inside-the-bar-the-avenue-the-stores-opposite-the-street/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [In the New Testament, Thomas Jefferson cut out everything that was mystical, magical, miracle - physically with scissors - and then pasted in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-new-testament-thomas-jefferson-cut-out-everything-that-was/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Lots of different ways to live and lots of different ways to die. 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The German army is by no means strong enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaroslaw-kaczynski/germany-s-potential-makes-up-about-20-of-the-eu-s-overall-economic/) [Jaroslaw Kaczynski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaroslaw-kaczynski/) > [Like a wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harlan-ellison/like-a-wind-crying-endlessly-through-the-universe-time-carries-away/) [Harlan Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harlan-ellison/) > [For me, making a photograph is mostly an intellectual process of understanding people or cities and their historical and phenomenological connections. At that point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-struth/for-me-making-a-photograph-is-mostly-an-intellectual-process-of/) [Thomas Struth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-struth/) > [All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything, joy or happiness, is liberty.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/all-that-remains-is-a-fate-whose-outcome-alone-is-fatal-outside-of/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [All that remains of that minute is time in all its purity, bone-white time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/all-that-remains-of-that-minute-is-time-in-all-its-purity-bone-white/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [To Toronto City Council: The Sam The Record Man store and sign were important fixtures in Toronto's musical landscape as well as its Civic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geddy-lee/to-toronto-city-council-the-sam-the-record-man-store-and-sign-were/) [Geddy Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geddy-lee/) > [Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/under-a-dictatorship-a-nation-ceases-to-exist-all-that-remains-is-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [But who can remember pain, once its over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/but-who-can-remember-pain-once-its-over-all-that-remains-of-it-is-a/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More by Mohammed Dib > [Humiliation, slavery, fear have perverted us to the bone; we no longer look like men... . Men must be granted the respect due to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-dib/humiliation-slavery-fear-have-perverted-us-to-the-bone-we-no-longer/) [Mohammed Dib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-dib/) > [Beware that the one who reads is the same as the book, the same as what is read, the same as the speaker and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-dib/beware-that-the-one-who-reads-is-the-same-as-the-book-the-same-as/) [Mohammed Dib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-dib/) > [A man is likewise form and expression, a written sign thrown unto boundless matter, an undifferentiated word of what is. I've therefore been created…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-dib/a-man-is-likewise-form-and-expression-a-written-sign-thrown-unto/) [Mohammed Dib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-dib/) [Explore all 4 Mohammed Dib quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-dib/) ## More All that remains quotes > [But who can remember pain, once its over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/but-who-can-remember-pain-once-its-over-all-that-remains-of-it-is-a/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/under-a-dictatorship-a-nation-ceases-to-exist-all-that-remains-is-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [To Toronto City Council: The Sam The Record Man store and sign were important fixtures in Toronto's musical landscape as well as its Civic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geddy-lee/to-toronto-city-council-the-sam-the-record-man-store-and-sign-were/) [Geddy Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geddy-lee/) > [All that remains of that minute is time in all its purity, bone-white time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/all-that-remains-of-that-minute-is-time-in-all-its-purity-bone-white/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything, joy or happiness, is liberty.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/all-that-remains-is-a-fate-whose-outcome-alone-is-fatal-outside-of/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [For me, making a photograph is mostly an intellectual process of understanding people or cities and their historical and phenomenological connections. At that point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-struth/for-me-making-a-photograph-is-mostly-an-intellectual-process-of/) [Thomas Struth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-struth/) > [Like a wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harlan-ellison/like-a-wind-crying-endlessly-through-the-universe-time-carries-away/) [Harlan Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harlan-ellison/) > [Germany's potential makes up about 20% of the EU's overall economic power, including Great Britain. The German army is by no means strong enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaroslaw-kaczynski/germany-s-potential-makes-up-about-20-of-the-eu-s-overall-economic/) [Jaroslaw Kaczynski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaroslaw-kaczynski/) > [Everyone just keeps on disappearing. Some things vanish, like they were cut away. Others fade slowly into the mist. And all that remains is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/everyone-just-keeps-on-disappearing-some-things-vanish-like-they-were/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [In 1997, we faced daunting challenges. Boom and bust economics… Now, for all that remains to be done, dwell for a moment on what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-blair/in-1997-we-faced-daunting-challenges-boom-and-bust-economics-now-for/) [Tony Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-blair/) > [Nobody the dead man & Nobody the living Nobody is giving in & Nobody is giving Nobody hears me but just Nobody cares Nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kami-garcia/nobody-the-dead-man-nobody-the-living-nobody-is-giving-in-nobody-is/) [Kami Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kami-garcia/) > [It's not my story anymore: whenever I speak about the past now, I feel as if I were talking about something that has nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/it-s-not-my-story-anymore-whenever-i-speak-about-the-past-now-i-feel/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Lots of different ways to live and lots of different ways to die. But in the end that doesn't make a bit of difference.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/lots-of-different-ways-to-live-and-lots-of-different-ways-to-die-but/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [In the New Testament, Thomas Jefferson cut out everything that was mystical, magical, miracle - physically with scissors - and then pasted in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-new-testament-thomas-jefferson-cut-out-everything-that-was/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-new-to-be-discovered-in-physics-now-all-that-remains/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 55 All that remains quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/all-that-remains/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At present, [in the desert] an exasperating clarity reigns. The sky has become less visible than water in a jar. Black peaks, spines of granite, a twisted tree are sculpted in this atmosphere basted with reflections. 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