But no: he was empty, he was confronted by a vast anger, a desperate anger, he saw it and could almost have touched it. But it was inert - if it were to live and find expression and suffer, he must lend it his own body. It was other people's anger. "Swine! " He clenched his fists, he strode along, but nothing came, the anger remained external to himself.JeanPaul Sartre
About This Quote
In "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Tolstoy recounts a moment when Ivan Ilyich, a man who has been diagnosed with terminal illness, is presented with life-transforming news. The news is that he has an illegitimate son who has just inherited his wealth. The thought of this brings something within Ivan Ilyich to life, and he decides to change his ways and live better. The passage above shows how far Ivan Ilyich had fallen. He was at death's door, so he thought he should go back to the time when things were good for him.
He thought that if he had enough money, his problems would go away. But he couldn't quite grasp it all... It was like trying to grab water with one's fingers.
He couldn't reach it, and all the time it was slipping away from him. He saw that everything was slipping away from him; but that didn't help him to seize it; instead, what did help him was anger - anger at himself (he saw that he wasn't living up to his obligations), anger at everyone (he saw them all as swine), anger at everything (he saw everything as swine).
Source: The Age Of Reason
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