Maybe man is nothing in particular, ' Cross said gropingly. 'Maybe that's the terror of it. Man may be just anything at all. And maybe man deep down suspects this, really knows this, kind of dreams that it is true; but at the same time he does not want really to know it? May not human life on this earth be a kind of frozen fear of man at what he could possibly be? And every move he makes might not these moves be just to hide this awful fact? To twist it into something which he feels would make him rest and breathe a little easier? What man is is perhaps too much to be borne by man.. .Richard Wright
About This Quote
The terror of man is too much to bear for man. The terror of man is the terror of what man could be. It is the terror that comes from realizing that there are no boundaries, no safe places, that there are no guarantees, that our actions have an outcome. It is the fear that comes from understanding that our actions will define us but not define others. It is the realization that we will never be good enough, never perfect enough, never safe enough.
Source: The Outsider
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