---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And what we’ve been always been is…?” “Is…"
description: "\"“And what we’ve been always been is…?” “Is living on borrowed time. Never caring about who’s paying for it, who’s starving somewhere else all jammed to..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/thomas-pynchon-533_dead_and-what-we-ve-been-always-been-is-is-li_662600.jpg"
---

#  And what we’ve been always been is…?” “Is living on…

![“And what we’ve been always been is…?” “Is living on borrowed time. Never caring about who’s paying for it, who’s starving somewhere else all jammed together so we can have cheap food, a house, a yard in the burbs … planetwide, more every day, the payback keeps gathering. And meantime the only help…” quote by Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/thomas-pynchon-533_dead_and-what-we-ve-been-always-been-is-is-li_662600.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/thomas-pynchon-533_dead_and-what-we-ve-been-always-been-is-is-li_662600.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/thomas-pynchon-533_dead_and-what-we-ve-been-always-been-is-is-li_662600.jpg)

> ““And what we’ve been always been is…?” “Is living on borrowed time. Never caring about who’s paying for it, who’s starving somewhere else all jammed together so we can have cheap food, a house, a yard in the burbs … planetwide, more every day, the payback keeps gathering. And meantime the only help we get from the media is boo hoo the innocent dead. Boo fuckin hoo. You know what? All the dead are innocent. There’s no uninnocent dead.” After a while, “You’re not going to explain that, or…” “Course not, it’s a koan.””

[Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A fragmented lament about living unsustainably, media indifference, and the inevitability of collective consequences, framed as a koan.

**In simple terms:** Critique of unsustainable living and media apathy.

Key Takeaway

Recognize systemic issues and act responsibly.

Themes

environment media mortality social responsibility

Mood

reflective critical

Type

philosophical environmental

When to use this quote

- urban life
- food production
- media consumption
- climate change

Key Concepts

existentialism critique koan

Questions to Reflect On

- What personal habits contribute to the problem?
- How can media shift from passive to active engagement?

A Different Perspective

The abstract style may obscure actionable insight.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Borrowed time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowed-time/) [Koan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/koan/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/)

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