--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: During the days that followed our return…" description: "\"“During the days that followed our return, we were all, I think, seized by a veritable delirium. We wished to speak, to be heard at last. And yet, it w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/813/robert-antelme-273277_quote_during-the-days-that-followed-our-return_2228810.jpg" --- # During the days that followed our return, we were all, I… ![“During the days that followed our return, we were all, I think, seized by a veritable delirium. We wished to speak, to be heard at last. And yet, it was impossible. We had hardly begun to speak and we were choking.” quote by Robert Antelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/813/robert-antelme-273277_quote_during-the-days-that-followed-our-return_2228810.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/813/robert-antelme-273277_quote_during-the-days-that-followed-our-return_2228810.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/813/robert-antelme-273277_quote_during-the-days-that-followed-our-return_2228810.jpg) > ““During the days that followed our return, we were all, I think, seized by a veritable delirium. We wished to speak, to be heard at last. And yet, it was impossible. We had hardly begun to speak and we were choking.”” Robert Antelme ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. After trauma, a delirious urge to speak emerges, yet speech feels blocked. **In simple terms:** Desire to speak after trauma, but unable. Key Takeaway Find voice. Themes trauma expression silence Mood sorrowful hopeful Type Delirium:1 Delirium Wished:0 Veritable Delirium:0 Speak Choking:0 Wished Speak:0 When to use this quote - therapy - support groups - creative writing Key Concepts psychological aftermath communication barriers Questions to Reflect On - What helps break the speech block? - How does silence serve healing? A Different Perspective Silence may be protective, not just limiting. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [I prepared my intervention the night before I spoke. As it happened, there were about 44 cardinals who wished to speak but could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/godfried-danneels/i-prepared-my-intervention-the-night-before-i-spoke-as-it-happened/) [Godfried Danneels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/godfried-danneels/) > [ Neil \[Gaiman, creator of the comic Sandman, featuring the Amos-based character Delirium\] believes that faeries have gone beyond cool. They've transcended cool. 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I want to die in music, not in reason or in prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/to-hell-with-reality-i-want-to-die-in-music-not-in-reason-or-in-prose/) [Louis-Ferdinand Celine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [I'd rather die on my own terms than live on theirs. I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-d-rather-die-on-my-own-terms-than-live-on-theirs-i-d-rather-die/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“Food for the body, milk for your bones, ice for the bleeding, a belly of stones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/food-for-the-body-milk-for-your-bones-ice-for-the-bleeding-a-belly-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wish I could close my eyes and be blown into dust and nothingness, feel all my thoughts disperse like dandelion fluff drifting off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-wish-i-could-close-my-eyes-and-be-blown-into-dust-and-nothingness-2/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [The greatest part of mankind labor under one delirium or another; and Don Quixote differed from the rest, not in madness, but the species…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-fielding/the-greatest-part-of-mankind-labor-under-one-delirium-or-another-and/) [Henry Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-fielding/) > [God is a spirit. Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil; and it is also true that spirits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bradlaugh/god-is-a-spirit-jesus-was-led-up-of-the-spirit-to-be-tempted-of-the/) [Charles Bradlaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bradlaugh/) > [You know the best thing about aeroplanes? Apart from the peanuts in little silver bags, I mean. It's looking out of the windows at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-know-the-best-thing-about-aeroplanes-apart-from-the-peanuts-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“I wish I could close my eyes and be blown into dust and nothingness, feel all my thoughts disperse like dandelion fluff drifting off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-wish-i-could-close-my-eyes-and-be-blown-into-dust-and-nothingness/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) ## More Delirium quotes > [“I wish I could close my eyes and be blown into dust and nothingness, feel all my thoughts disperse like dandelion fluff drifting off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-wish-i-could-close-my-eyes-and-be-blown-into-dust-and-nothingness/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [You know the best thing about aeroplanes? Apart from the peanuts in little silver bags, I mean. It's looking out of the windows at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-know-the-best-thing-about-aeroplanes-apart-from-the-peanuts-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [God is a spirit. 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I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-d-rather-die-on-my-own-terms-than-live-on-theirs-i-d-rather-die/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [To hell with reality! I want to die in music, not in reason or in prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/to-hell-with-reality-i-want-to-die-in-music-not-in-reason-or-in-prose/) [Louis-Ferdinand Celine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [“All those years I’d drifted along too glassy and insulated for any kind of reality to push through: a delirium which had spun me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/all-those-years-i-d-drifted-along-too-glassy-and-insulated-for-any/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“Any drinker knows how the process works: the first day you get drunk is okay, the morning after means a big head but so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/any-drinker-knows-how-the-process-works-the-first-day-you-get-drunk/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [The text moves like a small crustacean with compound eye and complex nervous system; throbbing, involuted, it becomes a parasite on a different body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-brossard/the-text-moves-like-a-small-crustacean-with-compound-eye-and-complex/) [Nicole Brossard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-brossard/) > [Poe is a kind of Hawthorne and delirium tremens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-stephen/poe-is-a-kind-of-hawthorne-and-delirium-tremens/) [Leslie Stephen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-stephen/) > [Life creates itself in delirium and is undone in ennui.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/life-creates-itself-in-delirium-and-is-undone-in-ennui/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [ Neil \[Gaiman, creator of the comic Sandman, featuring the Amos-based character Delirium\] believes that faeries have gone beyond cool. They've transcended cool. I just… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/neil-gaiman-creator-of-the-comic-sandman-featuring-the-amos-based/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [“Sister? Where should we start?" "Here?" "Very good. We are here. Where should we travel to now?" "...somewhere that's not here?" "That was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/sister-where-should-we-start-here-very-good-we-are-here-where-should/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) Browse all 145 Delirium quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“During the days that followed our return, we were all, I think, seized by a veritable delirium. We wished to speak, to be heard at last. 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