A meadow is nothing but a field of suffering. Every second some creature is dying in the gorgeous green expanse, ants eat wriggling earthworms, birds lurk in the sky to pounce on a weasel or a mouse. You see that black cat, standing motionless in the grass. She is only waiting for an opportunity to kill. I detest all that naïve respect for nature. Do you think that a doe in the jaws of a tiger feels less horror than you? People thought up the idea that animals don’t have the same capability for suffering as human, because otherwise they couldn’t bear the knowledge that they are surrounded by a world of nature that is horror and nothing but horror. Milan Kundera
About This Quote

The quote above was said by Oscar Wilde in his novel The Importance of Being Earnest where he used the word "horror". The word "horror" is also used in the poem "The Scream" by William Blake. It is believed that the quote above was written in 1882, since it is thought to be an extract from one of Wilde's letters. This quote highlights how powerful nature can be when it comes to death and suffering, when it is seen as beautiful when in fact it is full of horror all the way around.

There are many examples of this in nature. For example, some animals eat other animals and those animals suffer just as those animals that they ate

Source: Immortality

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The sunlight claps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea: what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me? - Percy Bysshe Shelley

  2. In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me... - Dorothy Parker

  3. If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human. - Maggie Stiefvater

  4. A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. - Ingrid Bergman

  5. This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of... - Susan Polis Schutz

More Quotes By Milan Kundera
  1. Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful.

  2. You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.

  3. Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for...

  4. He suddenly recalled from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split then in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.

  5. I want you to be weak. As weak as I am.

Related Topics