--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added…" description: "\"“It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we understand the laws governing the return of the past, but I feel more and more as if time did not ex..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/w-g-sebald-2-13661_dreams_it-does-not-seem-to-me-austerlitz-added_2501121.jpg" --- # It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we… ![“It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we understand the laws governing the return of the past, but 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, between which the living and the dead can move…” quote by W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/w-g-sebald-2-13661_dreams_it-does-not-seem-to-me-austerlitz-added_2501121.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/w-g-sebald-2-13661_dreams_it-does-not-seem-to-me-austerlitz-added_2501121.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/w-g-sebald-2-13661_dreams_it-does-not-seem-to-me-austerlitz-added_2501121.jpg) > ““It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we understand the laws governing the return of the past, but 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, 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, that only occasionally, in certain lights and atmospheric conditions, do we appear in their field of vision.”” [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator suggests time is an illusion, a network of spaces where the living and dead intersect, making existence subjective. **In simple terms:** Time may be a set of interlocking spaces rather than a line. Key Takeaway Consider how perception shapes reality. Themes philosophy existence memory death perception Mood reflective melancholic introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading literature - discussing mortality - exploring art history - contemplating personal legacy Key Concepts metaphysics temporal illusion subjective reality Questions to Reflect On - How do you experience the past in the present? - Do you feel observed by those who have passed? A Different Perspective The concept challenges empirical views of linear time. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Austerlitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austerlitz-466568/) [Austerlitz Added](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austerlitz-added-1062934/) [Does Austerlitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/does-austerlitz-1062931/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Past Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-feel-1062933/) [Stereometry Living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stereometry-living-1062932/) ## Related quotes > [“Had I realized at the time that for Austerlitz certain moments had no beginning or end, while on the other hand his whole life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/had-i-realized-at-the-time-that-for-austerlitz-certain-moments-had-no/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“In my photographic work I was always especially entranced, said Austerlitz, by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-especially-entranced-said/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I believe, said Austerlitz, they know they have lost their way, since if you do not put them out again carefully they will stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-believe-said-austerlitz-they-know-they-have-lost-their-way-since-if/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“we also see two things that are very salient for Napoleon –   1. Whenever he saw an opportunity, he immediately felt a strong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-marshall/we-also-see-two-things-that-are-very-salient-for-napoleon-1-whenever/) [Sebastian Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-marshall/) > [The Parisian is to the French what the Athenian was to the Greeks: no one sleeps better than he, no one is more openly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-parisian-is-to-the-french-what-the-athenian-was-to-the-greeks-no/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Just as in a clock, the result of the complicated motion of innumerable wheels and pulleys is merely a slow and regular movement of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/just-as-in-a-clock-the-result-of-the-complicated-motion-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“In a clock the complex action of countless different wheels works its way out in the even, leisurely movement of hands measuring time; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/in-a-clock-the-complex-action-of-countless-different-wheels-works-its/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-battle-of-austerlitz-is-the-grandest-of-all-i-have-fought/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [If you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it, now. Imagine a new story for your life and believe in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/if-you-have-a-past-with-which-you-feel-dissatisfied-then-forget-it/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [In the past, I feel like I've been my own worst enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelvin-gastelum/in-the-past-i-feel-like-i-ve-been-my-own-worst-enemy/) [Kelvin Gastelum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelvin-gastelum/) > [“The only thing you can change about the past is how you feel about it in the present.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-dylandy/the-only-thing-you-can-change-about-the-past-is-how-you-feel-about-it/) [Neil Dylandy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-dylandy/) > [The harvest-home or supper is a thing of the past. To those who feel the fascination of the past this may appear sad, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flora-thompson/the-harvest-home-or-supper-is-a-thing-of-the-past-to-those-who-feel/) [Flora Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flora-thompson/) > [If you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it. Now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/if-you-have-a-past-with-which-you-feel-dissatisfied-then-forget-it-now/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [It's not my story anymore: whenever I speak about the past now, I feel as if I were talking about something that has nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/it-s-not-my-story-anymore-whenever-i-speak-about-the-past-now-i-feel/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [some of us have so much defeat in our past that we feel we lost the race before we knew it started.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/some-of-us-have-so-much-defeat-in-our-past-that-we-feel-we-lost-the/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) ## More by W.G. Sebald > [“The tiny features below, taken together with the gentle mass of Montblanc towering above them, the Vanoise glacier almost invisible in the shimmering distance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/the-tiny-features-below-taken-together-with-the-gentle-mass-of/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I was just laying aside a Lausanne paper I'd bought in Zurich when my eye was caught by a report that said the remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-was-just-laying-aside-a-lausanne-paper-i-d-bought-in-zurich-when-my/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Is the destruction not, rather, irrefutable proof that the catastrophes which develop, so to speak, in our hands and seem to break out suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/is-the-destruction-not-rather-irrefutable-proof-that-the-catastrophes/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“You adulterate the truth as you write. There isn't any pretense that you try to arrive at the literal truth. And the only consolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/you-adulterate-the-truth-as-you-write-there-isn-t-any-pretense-that/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“In this little booklet, which had belonged to a maternal great-uncle of ... mine, who spent some time working as an office clerk in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/in-this-little-booklet-which-had-belonged-to-a-maternal-great-uncle/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“It is hard, said Mme Landau, when I told her about those railway lessons, in the end it is hard to know what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/it-is-hard-said-mme-landau-when-i-told-her-about-those-railway/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I remembered the story Evan the cobbler had told me, about the two headstreams of Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach which are said to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remembered-the-story-evan-the-cobbler-had-told-me-about-the-two/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Once I am at leisure, said Salvatore, I take refuge in prose as one might in a boat. All day long I am surrounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/once-i-am-at-leisure-said-salvatore-i-take-refuge-in-prose-as-one/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“What distinguishes art from such undertaker's business is that life's closeness to death is its theme, not its addiction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/what-distinguishes-art-from-such-undertaker-s-business-is-that-life-s/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Looking at those gashed bodies, and at the witnesses of the execution, doubled up by grief like snapped reeds, I gradually understood that, beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/looking-at-those-gashed-bodies-and-at-the-witnesses-of-the-execution/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I have even begun to speak in foreign tongues roaming like a nomad in my own town.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-have-even-begun-to-speak-in-foreign-tongues-roaming-like-a-nomad-in/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“From the outset my main concern was with the shape and the self-contained nature of discrete things, the curve of banisters on a staircase,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/from-the-outset-my-main-concern-was-with-the-shape-and-the-self/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“But I have never been able to bring myself to sell anything, except perhaps, at one point, my soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/but-i-have-never-been-able-to-bring-myself-to-sell-anything-except/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Like our bodies and our desires, the machines we have devised are possessed of a heart which is slowly reduced to embers. From the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/like-our-bodies-and-our-desires-the-machines-we-have-devised-are/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I remember to this day how easily I could grasp what he called his tentative ideas when he talked about the architectural style of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remember-to-this-day-how-easily-i-could-grasp-what-he-called-his/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) [Explore all 41 W.G. Sebald quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) ## More Dreams quotes > [“Cine a ucis stelele? Cine a surpat drumul spre viitor al celor din morminte?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ionel-teodoreanu/cine-a-ucis-stelele-cine-a-surpat-drumul-spre-viitor-al-celor-din/) [Ionel Teodoreanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ionel-teodoreanu/) > [“Once we become sensitive to dreams, we discover that every dynamic in a dream is manifesting itself in some way in our practical lives”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-johnson/once-we-become-sensitive-to-dreams-we-discover-that-every-dynamic-in/) [Robert A. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-johnson/) > [“Now you’re wet. You’re so wet you’re leaking down your ass. You’re soaking my pillow. I don’t think I’m ever washing it. I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-stoker/now-you-re-wet-you-re-so-wet-you-re-leaking-down-your-ass-you-re/) [Susan Stoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-stoker/) > [“Not that it matters, when you dream, there's no outside or in. Your mind is an unimaginable bloom. A willow catkin as big as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-shapero/not-that-it-matters-when-you-dream-there-s-no-outside-or-in-your-mind/) [Rich Shapero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-shapero/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [“As dreams are the healing songs from the wilderness of our unconscious - So wild animals, wild plants, wild landscapes are the healing dreams…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-pendell/as-dreams-are-the-healing-songs-from-the-wilderness-of-our/) [Dale Pendell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-pendell/) > [Alone in a world, With millions of souls Walking in circles Trapped in their dreams unhealthy, unclean walking in circles, now do not disturb…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chester-bennington/alone-in-a-world-with-millions-of-souls-walking-in-circles-trapped-in/) [Chester Bennington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chester-bennington/) > [“Doing the work to transform your dreams into reality is like walking across the earth. It can be that hard, and it can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dragos-bratasanu/doing-the-work-to-transform-your-dreams-into-reality-is-like-walking/) [Dragos Bratasanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dragos-bratasanu/) > [As far as Im concerned, I didnt dream - ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-sturgeon/as-far-as-im-concerned-i-didnt-dream-ever/) [Theodore Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-sturgeon/) > [I guess, it's a father's dream for his daughter to be known around the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liza-soberano/i-guess-it-s-a-father-s-dream-for-his-daughter-to-be-known-around-the/) [Liza Soberano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liza-soberano/) > [I am just enjoying the dream of being Milan coach at the age of 40.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gennaro-gattuso/i-am-just-enjoying-the-dream-of-being-milan-coach-at-the-age-of-40/) [Gennaro Gattuso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gennaro-gattuso/) > [Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-handey/sometimes-life-seems-like-a-dream-especially-when-i-look-down-and-see/) [Jack Handey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-handey/) > [“I had a dream. I had an awesome dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-had-a-dream-i-had-an-awesome-dream/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 40,599 Dreams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we understand the laws governing the return of the past, but 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, 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, that only occasionally, in certain lights and atmospheric conditions, do we appear in their field of vision.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W.G. 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