Tiziano Terzani · 384 pages
Rating: (3.2K votes)
“Every place is a goldmine. You have only to give yourself time, sit in a teahouse watching the passers-by, stand in a corner of the market, go for a haircut. You pick up a thread – a word, a meeting, a friend of a friend of someone you have just met – and soon the most insipid, most insignificant place becomes a mirror of the world, a window on life, a theatre of humanity.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“Per i prossimo dieci anni la tua vita sarà orribile, avrai grandi problemi e niente ti andrà bene", dice l'indovino. "E poi?", chiede ansioso il cliente. "Poi? Poi ci farai l'abitudine!”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“La mobilità sociale ha aperto a tutti la possibilità di aspirare a qualsiasi cosa, ma con ciò nessuno è più "predestinato" a nulla. È forse per questo che la gente è sempre più disorientata e incerta sul senso della propria vita.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“Vladimir conosceva la vita e aveva una visione chiara di come andava il mondo. Tutto quel che era buono, ordinato, bello, pulito per lui era «normal». La libertà di darsi da fare? «Normal.» Amare le donne? «Normal.» Quello che non era più «normal» era la Russia perché non c’era più ordine, perché fra mafiosi, gangster e poliziotti non c’è più differenza e con la mano faceva il gesto: «tutti uguali», gli uni come altri, tutti mischiati. Indicava le mostrine di un ufficiale e diceva: «Mafia; no normal». «Democracy?» si domandava retoricamente e si rispondeva: «No normal. Popolo russo ha bisogno di dittatore. Grande dittatore per Russia è normal. Stalin per Russia è normal». Non credo lo dicesse solo perché Stalin era, come lui, un georgiano. Lo diceva perché con il fallimento del comunismo e la caduta dell’Impero sovietico, la gente come lui non sa in che cosa sperare, non vede attorno a sé nessuno di grande cui affidare la propria sorte.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“I vincitori invece credono di non aver nulla da imparare.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“Die Nacht, die Stimmung auf dem Schiff und wieder dieses völlige Losgelöstsein von der gewöhnlichen Welt hatten mir jenes rauschhafte Freiheitsgefühl erweckt, das meine Droge ist.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“detto tibetano: «Se c’è venerazione, anche il dente d’un cane emette luce».”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“Dalla Cina di Mao all’India di Gandhi e alla Cambogia di Pol Pot, tutti gli esperimenti di autarchia, di sviluppo non capitalista, con caratteristiche nazionali, sono falliti. I più per giunta, facendo milioni di vittime.”
― Tiziano Terzani, quote from A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
“It did not occur to me at the time that her radiance had a spiritual dimension, owing nothing to the values of the temporal world.”
― Jennifer Worth, quote from Call the Midwife
“In both cases, women are expected to sacrifice their comfort and freedom to service the requirements of male sexuality: either to repress or to stimulate the male sex urge.”
― Geraldine Brooks, quote from Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
“Now go and brag of thy present happiness, whosoever thou art, brag of thy temperature, of thy good parts, insult, triumph, and boast; thou seest in what a brittle state thou art, how soon thou mayst be dejected, how many several ways, by bad diet, bad air, a small loss, a little sorrow or discontent, an ague, &c.; how many sudden accidents may procure thy ruin, what a small tenure of happiness thou hast in this life, how weak and silly a creature thou art.”
― Robert Burton, quote from The Anatomy of Melancholy
“If we all spoke the truth there would be a great deal of unhappiness in the world, and particularly at such a time. Some things are better left unsaid.”
― Amanda Grange, quote from Mr. Darcy's Diary
“and daughters who are so hopeless at doing the done thing and sticking to the rules are automatically paralyzed with guilt whenever they come within fifty yards of a mother like Margaret.”
― Susan Howatch, quote from The Wheel of Fortune
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