Alive Quote by W. G. Sebald
“I feel more and more as if time did not exist at all... only various spaces interlocking according to the rules of a higher form of stereometry[the geometric measurement of solid bodies], between which the living and the dead can move back and forth as they like, and the longer I think about it the more it seems to me that we who are still alive are unreal in the eyes of the dead.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, 2001
The quote suggests that time is an illusion, with spaces interlocking like a higher geometry, allowing the dead and living to intersect, making the living feel unreal to the dead.
In simple terms: Time feels like an illusion where living and dead intersect.
Consider existence as fluid across dimensions.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- contemplating mortality
- artistic writing
- philosophical discourse
- personal meditation
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How does perceiving time as non-linear affect your daily choices?
- Do you feel more connected to past generations?
The metaphor may oversimplify complex physics and consciousness.