I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities that I have visited, all my ancestors . . . Perhaps I would have liked to be my father, who wrote and had the decency of not publishing. Nothing, nothing, my friend; what I have told you: I am not sure of anything, I know nothing. . . Can you imagine that I not even know the date of my death?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker feels they are a collection of others they have encountered and are uncertain about their own existence or death.
- In plain terms
- I am made of people I met and books I read, and I am not sure if I exist or when I will die.
- What can you take from it?
- Our identity is built from others around us.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who are you beyond your experiences?
- Do you know when you will die?
Another view
Personal agency and distinct self still matter in daily life.
More from Jorge Luis Borges
Democracy is an abuse of statistics.
Permalink to quote #137 I have known uncertainty: a state unknown to the Greeks.
Permalink to quote #139 Death (or its allusion) makes men precious and pathetic. They are moving because of their phantom condition; every act they execute may be their last; there is…
Permalink to quote #136
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