--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit…" description: "\"“It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b48/tom-stoppard-437_afterlife_it-s-all-trivial-your-grouse-my-hermit-b_760274.jpg" --- # It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron… ![“It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after but not the life…” quote by Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b48/tom-stoppard-437_afterlife_it-s-all-trivial-your-grouse-my-hermit-b_760274.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b48/tom-stoppard-437_afterlife_it-s-all-trivial-your-grouse-my-hermit-b_760274.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b48/tom-stoppard-437_afterlife_it-s-all-trivial-your-grouse-my-hermit-b_760274.jpg) > ““It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after but not the life. Believe in god, the solid, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of view. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final.”” [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We seek meaning through knowledge, yet ultimate answers elude us, prompting belief in higher forces without concrete expectations. **In simple terms:** We look for meaning, but ultimate answers are unknown. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty, find purpose in the search. Themes existentialism faith meaning uncertainty Mood contemplative skeptical Type philosophical existential When to use this quote - personal crisis - philosophical debate - spiritual exploration Key Concepts ontology theology epistemology Questions to Reflect On - What gives your life meaning beyond knowledge? - How do you balance doubt and belief? A Different Perspective Belief without evidence can lead to disillusionment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Afterlife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afterlife/) [Believe in god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-in-god/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) ## Related quotes > [Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/comparing-what-we-re-looking-for-misses-the-point-it-s-wanting-to/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [I don't think we're capable of knowledge, but I like to keep an open mind. So if you ask me whether I believe in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/i-don-t-think-we-re-capable-of-knowledge-but-i-like-to-keep-an-open/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [I would like to believe in an afterlife; it makes things more palatable. But I'm not banking on it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarvis-cocker/i-would-like-to-believe-in-an-afterlife-it-makes-things-more/) [Jarvis Cocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarvis-cocker/) > [I'm an atheist. I don't believe in the afterlife, but I do believe in ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-m-an-atheist-i-don-t-believe-in-the-afterlife-but-i-do-believe-in/) [David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/) > [I do believe in an afterlife. I try to be at one with people and try to love life as much as I can.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-sawalha/i-do-believe-in-an-afterlife-i-try-to-be-at-one-with-people-and-try/) [Julia Sawalha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-sawalha/) > [I don't believe in the afterlife. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-portman/i-don-t-believe-in-the-afterlife-i-believe-this-is-it-and-i-believe/) [Natalie Portman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-portman/) > [And if someone doesn’t believe in any afterlife?” I asked. Walt gave me a sad look. “Then that’s what they experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/and-if-someone-doesn-t-believe-in-any-afterlife-i-asked-walt-gave-me/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [“Then I think about how you went out, and I think… you know, it doesn’t balance out. One selfless deed, after all the shit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wildbow/then-i-think-about-how-you-went-out-and-i-think-you-know-it-doesn-t/) wildbow > [I believe that everybody, whether you believe in the afterlife or the chance of a near-death experience and you come back and you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-eastwood/i-believe-that-everybody-whether-you-believe-in-the-afterlife-or-the/) [Clint Eastwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-eastwood/) > [I don't believe there's an afterlife - but I don't believe there's an end to life. Consciousness goes beyond the bounds of your body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-cole/i-don-t-believe-there-s-an-afterlife-but-i-don-t-believe-there-s-an/) [Lily Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-cole/) > [“Do you believe in an afterlife? Do your personal beliefs include a life after death?—no matter how they phrase their snotty test, do the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/do-you-believe-in-an-afterlife-do-your-personal-beliefs-include-a/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [I don't believe in an afterlife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-sher/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife/) [Antony Sher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-sher/) > [I don't believe in an afterlife. You live on in the people you influence during your lifetime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viv-albertine/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife-you-live-on-in-the-people-you/) [Viv Albertine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viv-albertine/) > [I think I do believe in the afterlife; I have heard stories from people who I can completely trust that have seen ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saoirse-ronan/i-think-i-do-believe-in-the-afterlife-i-have-heard-stories-from/) [Saoirse Ronan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saoirse-ronan/) > [I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife-i-don-t-believe-in-a-single-or/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) ## More by Tom Stoppard > [If I wanted to change the world, the last thing I would do is write a play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/if-i-wanted-to-change-the-world-the-last-thing-i-would-do-is-write-a/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [If you want to change something by Tuesday, theater is no good. Journalism is what does that. But, if you want to just alter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/if-you-want-to-change-something-by-tuesday-theater-is-no-good/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/childhood-is-last-chance-gulch-for-happiness-after-that-you-know-too/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [After all these years, I definitely associate having a pen in my hand with having an ashtray just out of eye line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/after-all-these-years-i-definitely-associate-having-a-pen-in-my-hand/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [The universe is deterministic all right, just like Newton said, I mean it's trying to be, but the only thing going wrong is people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/the-universe-is-deterministic-all-right-just-like-newton-said-i-mean/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [For me, human rights simply endorse a view of life and a set of moral values that are perfectly clear to an eight-year-old child.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/for-me-human-rights-simply-endorse-a-view-of-life-and-a-set-of-moral/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [“What is an artist? For every thousand people there's nine hundred doing the work, ninety doing well, nine doing good, and one lucky bastard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/what-is-an-artist-for-every-thousand-people-there-s-nine-hundred/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [Dying is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over... Death is not anything... death is not... It's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/dying-is-not-romantic-and-death-is-not-a-game-which-will-soon-be-over/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [I'm not interested in clothes; I just like them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/i-m-not-interested-in-clothes-i-just-like-them/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [For 10 years of my life, 3 times a day, I thanked the Lord for what I was about to receive and thanked him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/for-10-years-of-my-life-3-times-a-day-i-thanked-the-lord-for-what-i/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [You should not translate for more than two hours at a time. After that, you lose your edge, the language becomes clumsy, rigid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/you-should-not-translate-for-more-than-two-hours-at-a-time-after-that/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/no-matter-how-imperfect-things-are-if-you-ve-got-a-free-press/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/we-must-be-born-with-an-intuition-of-mortality-before-we-know-the/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/eternity-s-a-terrible-thought-i-mean-where-s-it-all-going-to-end/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [There is truth and falsehood in a comma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/there-is-truth-and-falsehood-in-a-comma/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) [Explore all 559 Tom Stoppard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) ## More Afterlife quotes > [I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife-i-don-t-believe-in-a-single-or/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“There was no attack on religion because people were generally indifferent to religion. They were neither hot nor cold. They were the tepid, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-day/there-was-no-attack-on-religion-because-people-were-generally/) [Dorothy Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-day/) > [I guess on one hand I believe it doesn't matter if there is life after death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-morton/i-guess-on-one-hand-i-believe-it-doesn-t-matter-if-there-is-life/) [Joe Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-morton/) > [“And what if there are only spiders there, or something of that sort”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/and-what-if-there-are-only-spiders-there-or-something-of-that-sort/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [“The obsession with the afterlife is born of a panic at not having memories of a before-life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-cavanagh/the-obsession-with-the-afterlife-is-born-of-a-panic-at-not-having/) [Dean Cavanagh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-cavanagh/) > [... the man in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personality, those qualities which are all he will have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/the-man-in-the-violent-situation-reveals-those-qualities-least/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Most people would probably call me a ghost. I am, after all, dead. But I don't think of myself that way. It wasn't so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-pike/most-people-would-probably-call-me-a-ghost-i-am-after-all-dead-but-i/) [Christopher Pike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-pike/) > [If critics and fanboys weren't suckers for simplistic nihilism and high-pressure marketing, Afterlife would be universally acclaimed as a visionary feat, superior to Inception…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/armond-white/if-critics-and-fanboys-weren-t-suckers-for-simplistic-nihilism-and/) [Armond White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/armond-white/) > [“People, I thought, wanted security. They couldn’t bare the idea of death being a big black nothing, couldn’t bear the thought of their loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/people-i-thought-wanted-security-they-couldn-t-bare-the-idea-of-death/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Some people are so stiff and inhumane as the dogma's they believe in”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/some-people-are-so-stiff-and-inhumane-as-the-dogma-s-they-believe-in/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [Sometimes I think the resurrection of the body, unless much improved in construction, a mistake!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-underhill/sometimes-i-think-the-resurrection-of-the-body-unless-much-improved/) [Evelyn Underhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-underhill/) > [It's my firm conclusion that human meaning comes from humans, not from a supernatural source. After we die, our hopes for an afterlife reside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-graffin/it-s-my-firm-conclusion-that-human-meaning-comes-from-humans-not-from/) [Greg Graffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-graffin/) > [“One's past can't be erased, it can only be learned from, the child taught her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-balcomb/one-s-past-can-t-be-erased-it-can-only-be-learned-from-the-child/) [H. L. Balcomb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-balcomb/) > [It was like I’d stepped out into an afterlife. Only there were no angels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-christopher/it-was-like-i-d-stepped-out-into-an-afterlife-only-there-were-no/) [Lucy Christopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-christopher/) > [“death is predestined for all mortals. Souls live forever, but the body does not. Unless you are immortal, both the soul and body are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yelle-hughes/death-is-predestined-for-all-mortals-souls-live-forever-but-the-body/) [Yelle Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yelle-hughes/) [Browse all 844 Afterlife quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afterlife/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It's all trivial-your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after but not the life. Believe in god, the solid, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of view. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. 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