# Quote — Kōbō Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

> Only a shipwrecked person who has just escaped drowning could understand the psychology of someone who breaks out in laughter just because he is able to breathe.

- 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/only-a-shipwrecked

## 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)