# Quote — Kōbō Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

> It goes on, terrifyingly repetitive. One could not do without repetition in life, like the beating of the heart, but it was also true that the beating of the heart was not all there was to life.

- Author: [Kōbō Abe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe.md)
- Book: [The Woman in the Dunes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe/the-woman-in-the-dunes.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/K%C5%8Db%C5%8D_Abe#The_Woman_in_the_Dunes_(1962)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe/the-woman-in-the-dunes/it-goes-on-terrifyingly

## More from this book

> More than iron doors, more than walls, it is the tiny peephole that really makes the prisoner feel locked in.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe/the-woman-in-the-dunes/more-than-iron.md)

> Suddenly a sorrow the color of dawn welled up in him. They might as well lick each other's wounds. But they would lick forever, and the wounds would never heal, and in the end their tongues would be worn away.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe/the-woman-in-the-dunes/suddenly-a-sorrow.md)

> When a castaway collapses from hunger and thirst it is fear of physical want rather than a real want, they say. Defeat begins with the fear that one has lost.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kobo-abe/the-woman-in-the-dunes/when-a-castaway.md)