--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Profane had got into this way of…" description: "\"“Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with parties in the daytime and a rotating shift system devised by Bung the foreman whereby you d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/918/thomas-pynchon-533_way-of-thinking_profane-had-got-into-this-way-of-thinkin_905495.jpg" --- # Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with… ![“Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with parties in the daytime and a rotating shift system devised by Bung the foreman whereby you didn’t know till the day before which hours you would be working the next, it put him on a weird calendar which was not ruled off into neat squares…” quote by Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/918/thomas-pynchon-533_way-of-thinking_profane-had-got-into-this-way-of-thinkin_905495.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/918/thomas-pynchon-533_way-of-thinking_profane-had-got-into-this-way-of-thinkin_905495.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/918/thomas-pynchon-533_way-of-thinking_profane-had-got-into-this-way-of-thinkin_905495.jpg) > ““Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with parties in the daytime and a rotating shift system devised by Bung the foreman whereby you didn’t know till the day before which hours you would be working the next, it put him on a weird calendar which was not ruled off into neat squares at all but more a mosaic of tilted street-surfaces that changed position according to sunlight, streetlight, moonlight, nightlight… He wasn’t comfortable in this street. The people mobbing the pavement between the stalls seemed no more logical than the objects in his dream. “They don’t have faces,” he said to Angel.”” [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 character feels disoriented by chaotic, shifting work schedules and surreal surroundings, reflecting modern alienation. **In simple terms:** He feels lost in a confusing, ever‑changing world. Key Takeaway Adapt to uncertainty with flexibility. Themes alienation modernity workplace surrealism Mood disoriented reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - night shift work - urban commuting - creative brainstorming - stress management Key Concepts postmodernism temporal dislocation identity crisis Questions to Reflect On - How do you find stability in unpredictable environments? - What anchors you when reality feels fragmented? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overstate personal agency in systemic chaos. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Way of thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-of-thinking/) ## Related quotes > [My objects dream and wear new costumes, compelled to, it seems, by all the words in my hands and the sea that bangs in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/my-objects-dream-and-wear-new-costumes-compelled-to-it-seems-by-all/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Even by common wisdom, there seem to be both people and objects in my dream that are outside myself, but clearly they were created…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/even-by-common-wisdom-there-seem-to-be-both-people-and-objects-in-my/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Some of us are afraid of dying; others of human loneliness. Profane was afraid of land or seascapes like this, where nothing else lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/some-of-us-are-afraid-of-dying-others-of-human-loneliness-profane-was/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“One morning Profane woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep and decided on a whim to spend the day like a yo-yo, shuttling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/one-morning-profane-woke-up-early-couldn-t-get-back-to-sleep-and/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [Scriptures - The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/scriptures-the-sacred-books-of-our-holy-religion-as-distinguished/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/there-are-more-sure-marks-of-authenticity-in-the-bible-than-in-any/) [Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/) > [The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history, will probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-philosopher-who-with-calm-suspicion-examines-the-dreams-and-omens/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [None of us like the concept of law because none of us like the restraints it puts on us. But when we understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/none-of-us-like-the-concept-of-law-because-none-of-us-like-the/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [It is hereby decreed that the wall separating the sacred and the profane be toen down. From now on everything is sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/it-is-hereby-decreed-that-the-wall-separating-the-sacred-and-the/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [War is a profane thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-schwarzkopf/war-is-a-profane-thing/) [Norman Schwarzkopf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-schwarzkopf/) > [I was called really horrible, profane names very loudly in front of huge crowds of people, and my schoolwork suffered at one point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lady-gaga/i-was-called-really-horrible-profane-names-very-loudly-in-front-of/) [Lady Gaga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lady-gaga/) > [“love is profane, since it mortally reaches toward the heaven in ye!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/love-is-profane-since-it-mortally-reaches-toward-the-heaven-in-ye/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [The greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not heresies, not heterodoxies, not atheists, not profane secularism - no, but the kind of orthodoxy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/the-greatest-danger-to-christianity-is-i-contend-not-heresies-not/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [The better proof of reverence for that holy name would be not to profane it by making it a topic of legislative discussion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/the-better-proof-of-reverence-for-that-holy-name-would-be-not-to/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/no-parent-can-consistently-teach-faith-in-christ-who-profanes-the/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) ## More by Thomas Pynchon > [“How strange tonight, this city. As if something trembled below its surface, waiting to burst through.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/how-strange-tonight-this-city-as-if-something-trembled-below-its/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“It was one of those great iron afternoons in London: the yellow sun being teased apart by a thoasand chimneys breathing, fawning upward without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/it-was-one-of-those-great-iron-afternoons-in-london-the-yellow-sun/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Surely for as long as there have been nights as bad as this one---something to raise the possibility of another night that could actually,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/surely-for-as-long-as-there-have-been-nights-as-bad-as-this-one/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Death glided by, shadowless, among the empties on the grass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/death-glided-by-shadowless-among-the-empties-on-the-grass/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“People read what news they wanted to and each accordingly built his own rathouse of history's rags and straws.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/people-read-what-news-they-wanted-to-and-each-accordingly-built-his/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Out of that night and day of unconditional wrath, folks would've expected to see any city, if it survived, all newly reborn, purified by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/out-of-that-night-and-day-of-unconditional-wrath-folks-would-ve/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“As spread thighs are to the libertine...so was the letter V to young Stencil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/as-spread-thighs-are-to-the-libertine-so-was-the-letter-v-to-young/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Oedipa wondered whether, at the end of this (if it were supposed to end), she too might not be left with only compiled memories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/oedipa-wondered-whether-at-the-end-of-this-if-it-were-supposed-to-end/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/if-they-can-get-you-asking-the-wrong-questions-they-don-t-have-to/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“remember didn't you sneak away from camp to have a moment alone with What you felt stirring across the land . . . it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/remember-didn-t-you-sneak-away-from-camp-to-have-a-moment-alone-with/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Through rain...then through dreaming glass, green with the evening. And herself in chair, old-fashioned, bonneted, looking west over the deck of Earth, inferno red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/through-rain-then-through-dreaming-glass-green-with-the-evening-and/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“She knew instinctively: he will be fine as the fraternity boy just out of an Ivy League school who knows he will never stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/she-knew-instinctively-he-will-be-fine-as-the-fraternity-boy-just-out/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Lovely morning, World War Two.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/lovely-morning-world-war-two/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Listen to anything and take it apart again. Spectrum analysis, in my head. I can break down chords, and timbres, and words too into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/listen-to-anything-and-take-it-apart-again-spectrum-analysis-in-my/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [A screaming comes across the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/a-screaming-comes-across-the-sky/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) [Explore all 483 Thomas Pynchon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) ## More Profane quotes > [No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/no-parent-can-consistently-teach-faith-in-christ-who-profanes-the/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [The better proof of reverence for that holy name would be not to profane it by making it a topic of legislative discussion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/the-better-proof-of-reverence-for-that-holy-name-would-be-not-to/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [The greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not heresies, not heterodoxies, not atheists, not profane secularism - no, but the kind of orthodoxy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/the-greatest-danger-to-christianity-is-i-contend-not-heresies-not/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [“love is profane, since it mortally reaches toward the heaven in ye!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/love-is-profane-since-it-mortally-reaches-toward-the-heaven-in-ye/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [I was called really horrible, profane names very loudly in front of huge crowds of people, and my schoolwork suffered at one point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lady-gaga/i-was-called-really-horrible-profane-names-very-loudly-in-front-of/) [Lady Gaga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lady-gaga/) > [War is a profane thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-schwarzkopf/war-is-a-profane-thing/) [Norman Schwarzkopf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-schwarzkopf/) > [It is hereby decreed that the wall separating the sacred and the profane be toen down. From now on everything is sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/it-is-hereby-decreed-that-the-wall-separating-the-sacred-and-the/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [None of us like the concept of law because none of us like the restraints it puts on us. But when we understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/none-of-us-like-the-concept-of-law-because-none-of-us-like-the/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history, will probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-philosopher-who-with-calm-suspicion-examines-the-dreams-and-omens/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/there-are-more-sure-marks-of-authenticity-in-the-bible-than-in-any/) [Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/) > [“One morning Profane woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep and decided on a whim to spend the day like a yo-yo, shuttling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/one-morning-profane-woke-up-early-couldn-t-get-back-to-sleep-and/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [Scriptures - The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/scriptures-the-sacred-books-of-our-holy-religion-as-distinguished/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [I shall possess this woman; I shall steal her from the husband who profanes her: I will even dare ravish her from the God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos/i-shall-possess-this-woman-i-shall-steal-her-from-the-husband-who/) [Pierre Choderlos de Laclos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos/) > [The eye of a man should be still more reverent before the rising of a young maiden than before the rising of a star.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-eye-of-a-man-should-be-still-more-reverent-before-the-rising-of-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/the-secret-thoughts-of-a-man-run-over-all-things-holy-profane-clean/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) Browse all 201 Profane quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with parties in the daytime and a rotating shift system devised by Bung the foreman whereby you didn’t know till the day before which hours you would be working the next, it put him on a weird calendar which was not ruled off into neat squares at all but more a mosaic of tilted street-surfaces that changed position according to sunlight, streetlight, moonlight, nightlight… He wasn’t comfortable in this street. 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