How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #4
He knew that time was rushing toward the morning of March 29; he reasoned aloud: It is now the night of the twenty-second; so long as this night and six more last I am invulnerable, immortal. (3)
Okay, folks, here's one more mental activity that our guy uses in an attempt to delay the inevitable: can he stop time with his mind by living in the moment? Hmm. This idea really highlights the subjective nature of time: if we feel like time is passing more slowly, will it? Borges never misses a moment to get deep on us.
Quote #5
The first volume documents the diverse eternities that mankind has invented, from Parmenides' static Being to Hinton's modifiable past; the second denies (with Francis Bradley) that all the events of the universe constitute a temporal series. (4)
Jaromir's book, A Vindication of Eternity, deals with a lot of different perceptions of time. It's amazing the way Borges crams so many complex ideas into one tiny sentence: Is time static? Can we change the past? Do events create a temporal series of cause and effect? Whew, we're pooped just thinking about thinking about these things.
Quote #6
It argues that the number of humankind's possible experiences is not infinite, and that a single "repetition" is sufficient to prove that time is a fallacy. …Unfortunately, no less fallacious are the arguments that prove that fallacy. (4)
This is a classic Borgesian move: he throws out an idea, and then gives us its contradiction. This way, he gives us a whole lot to think about, but doesn't close off any possibilities.