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Life Quote by Tanith Lee

“Cremisia said, “No, Signore. In this we have misunderstood. Nothing is the absence of anything we may understand. It is invisible in this world, has no presence or substance, neither sight nor sound, touch nor taste, not even, usually, any feeling of itself. It is the vast and unknowable sea that…” quote by Tanith Lee
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““Cremisia said, “No, Signore. In this we have misunderstood. Nothing is the absence of anything we may understand. It is invisible in this world, has no presence or substance, neither sight nor sound, touch nor taste, not even, usually, any feeling of itself. It is the vast and unknowable sea that rings us round and lies beyond the physical reality of life, and out of which fly amazements and miracles unforetold. It is what awaits us, just as it is the fount from which we sprang. And being Nothing, we cannot here remember it, just as, here, we fear to enter it again. It is Un-ness, it is Death, it is the empty and unknowable ending. And yet, and yet, in fact it is only perceived in this way since we have here no words for it, no channels of our clever physical minds able to capture and convey its being, either to others or ourselves. It is—here—so unlike here, and what we too are when here, that we find no method to visualize or reclaim it. Or—if some great poet or mystic somewhat may, he, being lost for words, can only resort to symbols, architypes most others will dismiss. Only before, or after life, do we know it. When we are one with it, with Nothing, nothing at all, Nihil. Only then.””

Tanith Lee

About This Quote

Source Novel: The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee, 1975

The passage describes “Nothing” as an unknowable, invisible void beyond physical reality, a source of miracles and the ultimate end, which human language cannot capture.

In simple terms: Nothing is an indescribable void beyond life that we cannot fully understand.

Key Takeaway

Accept the limits of language and contemplate the unknown.

Themes

mysticism existentialism death the unknown language limits

Mood

reflective pondering enigmatic

Type

philosophical poetic existential

When to use this quote

  • meditation on mortality
  • philosophical writing
  • spiritual contemplation
  • artistic expression
  • psychological introspection

Key Concepts

void ineffability transcendence miracle existential void

Questions to Reflect On

  • How do we confront the unknowable aspects of existence?
  • What role does language play in shaping our perception of reality?
A Different Perspective

Human concepts and words cannot fully grasp the true nature of the void.

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