Quotes from Balthasar's Odyssey

Amin Maalouf ·  391 pages

Rating: (3.4K votes)


“لقد قرأت بعض الكتب فقط للتقليل من جهلي !”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“حين يصبح الإيمان حقوداً ، بورك الذين يشككون !”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“أنا الذي أشكك بكل شيء ، كيف لا أشكك كذلك بشكوكي ؟”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“ما جدوى السفر حول العالم لرؤية ما يكمن أصلا في قرارة النفس ؟”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“غيري يكتب كما يتكلم ، و أنا أكتب كما ألتزم الصمت”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey



“وفي صلواتي صرت أرغب أن ابتهل قائلاً
يارب لاتنأى عني كثيراً ولا تقترب مني كثيراً كذلك !
دعني أتأمل النجوم على أهداب ثوبك ولكن لا تكشف لي عن وجهك !
اسمح لي أن أسمع خرير الأنهار التي تجعلها تجري والريح التي تنفخ في الأشجار وضحكات الأطفال الذين قد خلقتهم ولكن إلهي إلهي لا تسمح لي أن أسمع صوتك !”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“فطبيعتى المتشككة التى أنشأنى عليها والدى تقينى من إستفاضات الإيمان العارمة - أو ربما يجدر بي القول إنها تحظر على أى ثبات , سواء فى الحفاظ على التعقل أو فى السعى وراء الأوهام”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“Cette recommandation (Aime ton prochain comme toi-même) paraît, à première vue, irréprochable mais à voir ce que la plupart des gens font de leur vie, à voir ce qu'ils font de leur intelligence, je n'ai pas envie qu'ils m'aiment comme eux-mêmes.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“كم اشتهي أن أتذوق أيضا و أيضا ، تلك المتعة المرتسمة .لا لحرصي على إبقائها طاهرة للأبد . غير أني لم أمل تلك الجيرة المبهمة ، و ذلك التواطؤ المتعاظم ، و تلك الرغبة الحبلى بالمحن العذبة ، أي باختصار تلك الدرب التي نسلكها معا ، مبتهجين سرا ، و زاعمين في كل مرة أن العناية الإلهية وحدها التي تدفع أحدنا نحو الأخر.
تلك الرغبة تسحرني و لست على يقين من رغبتي بالعبور الى الجهة الأخرى من التلال .
أعرف أنها لعبة لا تخلو من الخطورة . ففي أية لحظة قد تحرقنا النيران ، و لكن كم كانت نهاية العالم تلوح بعيدة نائية في تلك الليلة.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“La route quelquefois s'agrémente de fables, comme le sommeil s'agrémente de songes, il faut savoir ouvrir les yeux à l'arrivée.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey



“هذه المرأة لم تشبع في قرارة نفسي شهوة الجسد التي تعتري الرحالة بل لطَّفت محنتي الأولى. فقد ولدت غريباً، وعشت غريباً، وسوف أموت وقد تعاظمت غربتي. وغروري يمنعني من ذكر العداء، والإهانات، والضغينة، والمعاناة. ولكن النظرات والحركات لا تخفي عليَّ. فعناق بعض النساء يلوح كالمنفى، وعناق بعضهن الآخر يذكر بالأرض الأم”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“What's a year in comparison with eternity? what's a day? an hour? a second? Such measures have meaning only for a heart that's still beating.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“I look at the world and my own life as if I were a stranger. I wish for nothing, except perhaps that time would stop.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“...people always manage to 'prove' what they want to believe; they'd be just as well off if they tried to prove the opposite.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“What strange times we live in, when good must disguise itself in the tawdry rags of evil!”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey



“Some women's arms are places of exile; others are a native land.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“Perhaps writing only arouses the passions in order to allay them, as beaters flush out the game in order to expose it to the hunter's arrows.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“So I've become an exile without ever leaving my country.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“Some women's arms are placed of exile; others are a native land.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey


“...it's better to wake up amid the pangs of desire than amid those of remorse.”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey



About the author

Amin Maalouf
Born place: in Beirut, Lebanon
Born date February 25, 1949
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Brother raises a hand against brother and son against father (how terrible!) and the father also against son. And moreover it is a continuity-matter, for if the father did not strike the son, they would not be alike. It is done to perpetuate similarity. Oh, Henderson, man cannot keep still under the blows.... A hit B? B hit C?--we have not enough alphabet to cover the condition. A brave man will try to make the evil stop with him. He shall keep the blow. No man shall get it from him, and that is a sublime ambition.”
― Saul Bellow, quote from Henderson the Rain King


“The small talk that sprang readily to their lips came to hers only with a tremendous effort. After an opportunity had come and gone, she often scolded herself for not saying this or doing that, for laughing too loud or smiling too little. Whenever she tried to re-create the moment of contact, she was easily rebuffed by the slightest gesture, withdrawing all too quickly if she thought she was in the way. The old stone-and-brick schoolhouse, with its four gabled roofs and round little windows, was the only thing that seemed steadfast to her, while the beings that populated its rooms and thundered down its corridors were unreal and unpredictable. It gripped her like a monstrous truth that she was condemned to lead life without belonging or feeling close to anyone.”
― Erick Setiawan, quote from Of Bees and Mist


“That’s easy.” I made a rude noise. “I want to go back to ten days ago. I want to be back in my office, fucking on my desk with you wrapped around me! I want your body underneath mine looking up at me with some expression other than the one I saw when you left me at the lifts!” I rested my forehead on the steering wheel and took in air.”
― Raine Miller, quote from All In


“There are some moments you'd rather sleep through, pass from point A to point B without awareness of the time passing or the events that carry you from present to future. And it's mostly those moments in which it's smarter-safer- to stay awake.”
― Robin Wasserman, quote from Skinned


“All I ever wanted in my life was to be treated as an individual. I have succeeded, to some extent. At least I'm sure that in the Lord's eyes, I am an individual. I am not a "colored" person, or a "Negro" person, in God's eyes. I am just me! The Lord won't hold it against me that I'm colored because He made me that way! He thinks I am beautiful! And so do I, even with all my wrinkles! I am beautiful!

-Bessie”
― Sarah L. Delany, quote from Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years


Interesting books

Euphoria
(4.7K)
Euphoria
by Erin Noelle
The Grace of Kings
(8.2K)
The Grace of Kings
by Ken Liu
On Liberty and Other Essays
(5.5K)
On Liberty and Other...
by John Stuart Mill
The Supernaturalist
(25.2K)
The Supernaturalist
by Eoin Colfer
God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
(7.1K)
God: The Failed Hypo...
by Victor J. Stenger
A Little Love Story
(835)
A Little Love Story
by Roland Merullo

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.