Through the years, a man peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, tools, stars, horses and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his own face.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Borges describes how a life's accumulated experiences eventually reveal a person's true self.
- In plain terms
- Life experiences eventually reveal your true self.
- What can you take from it?
- Your choices shape your identity over time.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does your work say about you?
- Who are you becoming?
Another view
Self-discovery is not guaranteed by age.
More from Jorge Luis Borges
The image of the Lord had been replaced by a mirror.
Permalink to quote #142 To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to kn…
Permalink to quote #144 Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.
Permalink to quote #141
Related quotes
I liked myself better when I wasn't me.
Carol BurnettCarol Burnett quote #7 I am a deeply superficial person.
Andy WarholAndy Warhol quote #17 I know that timid breathing. Where Do I begin and end? And where, As I strum the thing, do I pick up That which momentously declares Itself not to be I and yet…
Wallace StevensWallace Stevens quote #74