Roads vs. Highways


Still reading Immortality.

“Road: a strip of ground over which one walks. A highway differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A highway has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A highway is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.

Before roads and paths disappeared from the landscape, they had disappeared from the human soul: man stopped wanting to walk, to walk on his own feet and to enjoy it. What’s more, he no longer saw his own life as a road, but as a highway: a line that led from one point to another, from the rank of captain to the rank of general, from the role of wife to the role of widow. Time became a mere obstacle to life, an obstacle that had to be overcome by ever greater speed.

Road and highway; these are also two different conceptions of beauty.”

Information and Links

Join the fray by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.


Other Posts
It’s Alive!
You Can Run But You Can’t Hide

Reader Comments

Add to that my favorite:

Trail:

(Noun)

1. A marked or beaten path, as through woods or wilderness.
2. An overland route: the pioneers’ trail across the prairies.

3. A mark, trace, course, or path left by a moving body.