What does this quote mean?
What does the quote "God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly."--Paul Valéry, 1871-1945 mean?
Rosali Sat 07/06/08 13:25
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You can only understand the feeling of loneliness if you have experienced companionship, otherwise you have no frame of reference.
At least, that's what I think it means.
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Yes,I think winebuyer has captured the meaning in a nutshell.
Imagine(if you can) that you were the only person on Earth,and had never seen another Human Being,you wouldn't be lonely because you knew no difference.
However,when you were given a companion,and that companion went away,Ah! how lonely and sad would you be?
A bit like Doctor Who,he has (and had) many companions,but he knows they will all die(in what to him is a short time) and he will always be alone(so to speak) for he has no female comanion of the same life span.
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I agree with both and would add a lyric from the 1990's track Sit Down by James ..... which might bring the meaning to life:
"if I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor...."
Does that help?
EK
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Well , although I can agree at some point with the previous answers , I´m sure that was not what Paul Valéry was trying to say with this quote! I think that what he was tryiing to say was God gave men a companion to make him even more alone than he was before , because that´s what happen to people , surrounded by others but unable to communicate with them , and that´s when they feel their solitude even more keenly . That´s why he says : " finding him not sufficiently alone..." and not ...- finding him terribly alone .
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i agree with enlightened. i think the concept of not appreciating the sun if you've never known the rain is very true but not what Valery was writing about... there is nothing more isolating than been with someone you can't communicate with... men take note :-\
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One does wonder what the poor auld companion felt about all of this. In Valery's view, did they just nag a lot?
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