“If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.”
“هل تعلم؟ ما من شئ أمتع للإنسان من أن يعيش في صخبة حمقى، ومن أن يعزف على أوتارهم: إنه يستفيد من ذلك! لا تأخذ عليَّ أنني أقيم وزناً لأراء المجتمع، وإنني أحرص على بعض المواضعات، وأنني أنشد الاعتبار والجاه. أنا أعرف أنني أعيش في مجتمع تافه .. ولكنني حتى الأن أتحمس له، وأنعق مع الناعقين؛ إنني أتظاهر بالدفاع عنه دفاعاً حاراً، ومع ذلك فمن الممكن، إذا اقتضى الأمر، أن أهجره أول من يهجره. إنني أعرف جميع أفكارهم الجديدة، رغم أنني لم أحفل بها يوماً. وعلام أحفل بها؟ إنني لم أشعر يوماً بعذاب الضمير. إنني أقبل كل شئ، متى كان لي فيه نفع. وأمثالي كثيرون، ونحن جميعاً في أحسن حال حقاً. يمكن أن يفنى كل شئ على الأرض، وأن نظل نحن وحدنا لا نفنى أبداً. إننا نوجد منذ وُجِدَ الوجود .. قد يغرق الكون كله، ونبقى نحن نطفو على وجه الماء، نطفو إلى الأبد. أنظر، بهذه المناسبة، كم تطول حياة أمثالنا. إننا نعمر كثيراً، ألم يلفت نظرك ذلك؟ إننا نعيش حتى الثمانين، حتى التسعين. فالطبيعة نفسها تحمينا إذن .. هه هه .. أريد أن أبلغ التسعين حتماً، أنا لا أحب الموت. سحقاً للفلسفة. فلنشرب، يا عزيزي. كنا نتحدث عن البنات الجميلات لماذا تقوم؟”
“إن فى أصحاب النفوس الحساسة، المرهفة، الرقيقة، نوعاً من العناد فى بعض الأحيان، فترى أحدهم يأبى أن يعبّر للشخص الذى يحبه عن حبه، لا بين الناس فحسب، بل وفى الخلوة أكثر مما بين الناس، ويندر أن تفلت منه ملاطفة، ولكنها إن أفلتت كانت عنيفة قوية عارمة، على قدر انحباسها مدة طويلة من الزمان.”
“يصعب على المرء أن يتخيل لماذا وكيف يصبح الإنسان عاشقاً؟”
“الناس الطيبون لا ينتظرون أن يُحسن أحد إليهم حتى يحسنوا إليه، إنهم يحبون من تلقاء أنفسهم خدمة من هم فى حاجة إلى هذه الخدمة.”
“لو أمكن أن يتوصل كل منا (وهذا مستحيل بحكم الطبيعة الإنسانية) إلى الكشف عن جميع أفكاره، إلى الكشف عن جميع هذه الأفكار دون أن يخشى أن يطلع الناس لا على ما يجرؤ أن يقوله لأحد، ولا على ما يجرؤ أن يقوله لأعز أصدقائه فحسب، بل أيضا على ما يخشى أن يعترف به أحيانا لنفسه، لخرجت من الأرض عفونة تبلغ من النتانة أنها تخنقنا جميعا.”
“ما أكثر الشرور التى يمكن أن نتفاداها بالصراحة.”
“إن الفقر ليس خطيئة, وإنما الخطيئة أن يكون المرء غنيا فيُهين الآخرين”
“She enjoyed her own pain by this egoism of suffering, if I may so express it. This aggravation of suffering and this rebelling in it I could understand; it is the enjoyment of man, of the insulted and injured, oppressed by destiny, and smarting under the sense of its injustice.”
“إنه ليشق على هؤلاء الناس أن يفقدوا بعد ذلك أوهامهم، يشق عليهم ذلك لشعورهم بأنهم أنفسهم مذنبون .. لما تنتظر أن تُعطى أكثر مما يمكن أن تعطي ؟ إن الخيبة تتربص بهؤلاء الناس من لحظة إلى لحظة..والأفضل أن يظلوا في زاويتهم هادئين، لا يخرجون منها ...”
“ليس يكفى المرء أن يكون ذكىَّ العقل حتى لا يُخدع، بل لابد له أيضاً من قلب حساس.”
“لقد سلبني نصف قلبَك .. بيننا الآن ظل ..”
“ان القلب الكريم يمكن أن يحب من قبيل الشفقة”
“If it could come about that each of us were to describe his innermost secrets –secrets which one would hesitate to tell not only to people at large, but even to one’s closest friends, nay, to fear to admit even to one’s own self - the world would be filled with such a stench that each one of us would choke to death. That’s why, speaking in parenthesis, all our social conventions and niceties are so beneficial.”
“I am sure that deep down Ikhmenev was in a state of turmoil and pain as he witnessed the tears and torment of his poor wife; I am sure it was more agonizing for him than for her - but he could not control himself. This is what happens sometimes even with the most kind-hearted of people, who are nevertheless weak-willed, and who, despite their kind-heartedness, are apt to get carried off into a state of ecstasy when unburdening themselves of their grief and anger, even at the expense of hurting someone innocent, more often than not someone who is dear to them.”
“رُب معرفة صادقة تُجنب كثيراً من المتاعب.”
“الشرفاء يسهل خداعهم، حتى إذا اكتشفوا أنهم خُدعوا، اعتصموا بنوع من الاحتقار المتكبر، بدلاً من أن يلجأوا إلى القانون، إذا كان ذلك فى الإمكان.”
“من غير بلده فقد غير كل شئ فى حياته.”
“I have noticed that in a cramped space one's thoughts too tend to be cramped.”
“Frankly, if there ever was a time when I was really happy, it wasn't during those first intoxicating moments of my success, but long before that, when I hadn't yet read or shown my manuscript to anyone -- during those long nights of ecstatic hopes and dreams and passionate love of my work, when I had grown attached to my vision, to the characters I had created myself, as though they were my own offspring, as though they really existed -- and I loved, rejoiced and grieved over them, at times even shedding quite genuine tears over my guileless hero.”
“المشاعر المرضية تكاد تكون دائماً خداعة.”
“أعرف أن أحد كتابكم قال فى كتاب (إن أكبر مأثرة من مآثر الإنسان هى أن يعرف كيف يقتصر فى الحياة على القيام بدور «كومبارس».)
على لسان الأمير”
“Od našeg razgovora, naravno, nije bilo ništa. Ja nisam znao šta da joj kažem, a ona, verovatno ne bi razumela. Samo sam gorko zaplakao, i tako otišao ne rekavši joj ništa.”
“Nataşa’nın belki babasından geçmiş, bütün iyi kalpli insanlara has bir özelliği vardı: Karşısındakini olduğundan iyi görür, daha ilk bakıştan büyük bir heyecanla meziyetlerini büyütürdü. Bu çeşit insanların hayal kırıklığına, hele sebebin kendileri olduğunu bilerek uğramaları pek acı olur. Ne diye kendilerine verilebilecekten fazlasını umarlar sanki? Böyleleri, her an hayal kırıklığı tehlikesiyle karşılaşmaktansa, köşelerine çekilip dünyayla bağlantıyı kesmeli en iyisi. Dikkat ettim, köşeleri öyle severler ki, zamanla büsbütün yabanileşirler.”
“Don't be surprised that I value prejudice, observe certain conventions, seek power--it's because I know I live in an empty society.”
“Dar bir evde düşüncelerin de daraldığını fark etmiştim.”
“Keşke imkân olsaydı da (ki insan tabiatı için bu asla mümkün değildir) herkes, hepimiz, benliğimizin en gizli köşelerini olduğu gibi açığa vurabilseydik; başkalarına, hatta en yakın dostlarımıza, sırası gelince kendimize bile itiraf etmekten çekindiğimiz ne varsa, hepsini korkmadan ortaya dökebilseydik, dünyayı saracak pis kokudan hepimiz boğulurduk. Parantez içinde söyleyeyim, toplumu düzenleyen yasalar, görgü kuralları bu bakımdan iyidir zaten. Derin bir fikir gizlidir bunlarda; ahlaki olduğu iddia edilemeyecek ama, koruyucu, bize rahatlık sağlayan bir fikir. Bu da azımsanmamalı, çünkü ahlak da rahatlıktan başka bir şey değildir, yani rahatımız için icat edilmiştir. …Son olarak şunu söyleyeyim: Kusurlarımı, ahlaksızlığımı, sefihliğimi başıma kakıyorsunuz; oysa bütün suçum başkalarından daha içten olmam, o kadar. Demin de dediğim gibi, başkalarının kendilerinden bile sakladığı gerçekleri ben açıkça ortaya döküyorum.”
“Nitkovu bi uzvratila na prezir dakako samo prezirom, ali ipak bi je zaboljelo srce kad bi se tko narugao onomu što ona smatra za svetinju, makar tko se podrugivao. Nije to potjecalo od nedostatka odlučnosti. Potjecalo je donekle i od toga što je preslabo poznavala svijet, što je preslabo poznavala ljude i zatvarala se u svoj zakutak. Takvim je ljudima teško kad se kasnije razočaraju; još je teže kad osjećaš da si sam kriv. Zašto si očekivao više nego što ti se može dati? A takve ljude očekuje svaki čas takvo razočaranje.”
“Così sentivo diventare comprensibile per me la strana ostinazione di quel cuore casto, che si chiudeva per un certo tempo, opponendo al proprio desiderio di sfogarsi la maggior rigidezza, fino al momento dell'inevitabile slancio in cui tutto l'essere si concede, fino alla dimenticanza di se stesso, a questo umano bisogno d'affetto, di espansione, di carezza e di lacrime...”
“One of us had loved the other more perfectly, had watched the other more closely, and one of us listened and the other hadn’t, and one of us held on to the ambition of the one idea far longer than was reasonable, whereas the other, passing a garbage can one night, had casually thrown it away.”
“Born to love you, baby,” he repeated. “Die lovin’ you, my Sylvie.”
“Hey - Duggie! Duggie! Duggie!" He came running up to me, sparkler in hand. I felt like sticking one on him, the cheeky bastard. Nobody called me Duggie.
He held the sparkler up in front of my face and said, "Wait. Wait."
I was already waiting. What else was there to do?
"Here you are," he said. "Look! What's this?"
At that precise moment, his sparkler fizzled out. I didn't say anything, so he supplied the answer himself. "The death of the socialist dream," he said.
He giggled like a little maniac, and stared at me for a second or two before running off, and in that time I saw exactly the same thing I'd seen in Stubbs's eyes the day before. The same triumphalism, the same excitement, not because something new was being created, but because something was being destroyed. I thought about Phillip and his stupid rock symphony and I swear that my eyes pricked with tears. This ludicrous attempt to squeeze the history of the countless millennia into half an hour's worth of crappy riffs and chord changes suddenly seemed no more Quixotic than all the things my dad and his colleagues had been working towards for so long. A national health service, free to everyone who needed it. Redistribution of wealth through taxation. Equality of opportunity. Beautiful ideas, Dad, noble aspirations, just as there was the kernel of something beautiful in Philip's musical hodge-podge. But it was never going to happen. If there had ever been a time when it might have happened, that time was slipping away. The moment had passed. Goodbye to all that.
Easy to be clever with hindsight, I know, but I was right, wasn't I? Look back on that night from the perspective of now, the closing weeks of the closing century of our second millennium - if the calendar of some esoteric and fast-disappearing religious sect counts for anything any more - and you have to admit that I was right. And so was Benjamin's brother, the little bastard, with his sparkler and his horrible grin and that nasty gleam of incipient victory in his twelve-year-old eyes. Goodbye to all that, he was saying. He'd worked it out already. He knew what the future held in store.”
“Are you, monsieur, a man of your word?"
"It really depends upon the word," Magnus said. "There are so many wonderful words...”
“Politics are for the Washington, D.C., policy makers who safely watched the action on a video monitor from thousands of miles away.”
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