“It was only a phrase that went from mouth to mouth and was never quite swallowed.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“And everything would be different, different.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“To tell the truth, this was one of the few cases in which she had not told him just what she was thinking. Usually, she let him know whatever thoughts happened to come to her, and indeed he never took it amiss if she let slip a word that might pain him, because when all was said and done that was the price one paid for sincerity.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“His suspicion that he was not going in the right direction tortmented him more and more. At last he had the conviction that he would never go anywhere but in the wrong direction, to the very end of the handful of days that was left to him, unhappy moonstruck pilgrim, whose April was to be cut off short.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“An Albanian’s house is the dwelling of God and the guest.’ Of God and the guest, you see. So before it is the house of its master, it is the house of one’s guest. The guest, in an Albanian’s life, represents the supreme ethical category, more important than blood relations. One may pardon the man who spills the blood of one’s father or of one’s son, but never the blood of a guest.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“Having left, for various reasons, the homeland of epic, they were uprooted like trees overthrown, they had lost their heroic character and deep-seated virtue.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“A mountaineer’s house, before being his home and the home of his family, is the home of God and of guests.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“Two or three times it occurred to Gjorg that all these men had killed, and that each had his story. But those stories were locked deep within them. It was not just chance that in the glow of the fire their mouths, and even more their jaws, looked as if they had the shape of certain antique locks.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
“Why the Albanians had created the institution of the guest, exalting it above all other human relations, even those of kinship. “Perhaps the answer lies in the democratic character of this institution,” he said, setting himself to think his way through the matter. “Any ordinary man, on any day, can be raised to the lofty station of a guest. The path to that temporary deification is open to anybody at any time.[...] Given that anyone at all can grasp the sceptre of the guest,” he went on, “and since that sceptre, for every Albanian, surpasses even the king’s sceptre, may we not assume that in the Albanian’s life of danger and want, that to be a guest if only for four hours or twenty-four hours, is a kind of respite, a moment of oblivion, a truce, a reprieve, and—why not?—an escape from everyday life into some divine reality?”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April
Ismail Kadare
Born place: in Gjirokastër, Albania
Born date January 28, 1936
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“You're weird."
"You're weird too," she said defensively.
"I guess that means we're perfect for each other." He stared into her eyes, challenging her to deny it.
"I guess so," she said.
He smiled.”
― Olivia Cunning, quote from Wicked Beat
“My poison is creeping through his body.
My strong venom is killing his heart.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse
“But sometimes a kiss is not a kiss is not a kiss. Sometimes it's poetry.”
― Julie Buxbaum, quote from Tell Me Three Things
“She said that instead of conquering Everest, I could conquer the conqueror of Everest and while he had to go climb the mountain, I could stay home in lazy comfort listening to the radio and eating chocolates. She was upset, I suppose, but you can't imbibe someone's success by fucking them.”
― Joanna Russ, quote from The Female Man
“Memory was my drug of choice. -Pea Hicks”
― quote from Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Into the Deep
How I Became Stupid
Perfect Lies
How I Braved Anu Aun...
Acceptance
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