Thoughts on { A Mirror | Voltaire / V. Nabokov / Virginia Woolf / W.H. Auden / Stanisław Lem / Roger Zelazny / Philip K. Dick / Italo Calvino / B. Gracian
Patrick Hughes, In the Mirror, 1990
“For I do not exist: there exist but the thousands of
mirrors that reflect me. With every acquaintance I make,
the population of phantoms resembling me increases.
Somewhere they live, somewhere they multiply. I alone
do not exist.”
Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977
“Every man carries with him through life a mirror,
as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.”
W.H. Auden, The Dyer’s Hand, 1962
“Whatever may be their use in civilized societies,
mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action.”
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 1929
“Even a mirror will not show you yourself,
if you do not wish to see.”
Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light, 1967
“A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.”
Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647
“The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly
see yourself is in the reflection of someone else’s eyes.”
Voltaire, 1694-1778
“The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror – going after
nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.”
Zhuangzi, The Complete Works, 369-286 BC
“Maybe it’s you fuckers,” Fred said, “who’re seeing the
universe backward, like in a mirror. Maybe I see it right.”
Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982
“A writer should not run around with a mirror for
his countrymen; he should tell his society and his
times things no one ever thought before.”
Stanisław Lem, 1921-2006
“From mirror to mirror — this is what I happen to dream of
— the totality of things, the whole, the entire universe, divine
wisdom could concentrate their luminous rays into a single
mirror. Or perhaps the knowledge of everything is buried in
the soul, and a system of mirrors that would multiply my image
would then reveal to me the soul of the universe, which
is hidden in mine.”
Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, 1979
