“ I saw now that a man alone is but a being that may become a man—that he is but a need, and therefore a possibility. ”
George MacDonald, Lilith (1895). copy citation
| Author | George MacDonald |
|---|---|
| Source | Lilith |
| Topic | need loneliness possibility |
| Date | 1895 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1640/1640-h/1640-h.htm |
Context
“here lay what might wake and be a woman! might actually open eyes, and look out of them upon me!
Now first I knew what solitude meant—now that I gazed on one who neither saw nor heard, neither moved nor spoke. I saw now that a man alone is but a being that may become a man—that he is but a need, and therefore a possibility. To be enough for himself, a being must be an eternal, self-existent worm! So superbly constituted, so simply complicate is man; he rises from and stands upon such a pedestal of lower physical organisms and spiritual structures, that no atmosphere will comfort or nourish his life, less divine than that offered by other souls; nowhere but in other lives can he breathe.” source
Now first I knew what solitude meant—now that I gazed on one who neither saw nor heard, neither moved nor spoke. I saw now that a man alone is but a being that may become a man—that he is but a need, and therefore a possibility. To be enough for himself, a being must be an eternal, self-existent worm! So superbly constituted, so simply complicate is man; he rises from and stands upon such a pedestal of lower physical organisms and spiritual structures, that no atmosphere will comfort or nourish his life, less divine than that offered by other souls; nowhere but in other lives can he breathe.” source
Meaning and analysis
