“As we pass one step, and as we recognize it as being behind us, the next one already rises up before us. By the time we learn everything, we slowly come to understand it. And while you come to understand everything gradually, you don't remain idle at any moment: you are already attending to your new business; you live, you act, you move, you fulfill the new requirements of every new step of development. If, on the other hand, there were no schedule, no gradual enlightenment, if all the knowledge descended on you at once right there in one spot, then it's possible neither your brains nor your heart could bear it.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“...I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentration camp.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“Мога да заявя, че няма по-мъчително, по-разочароващо нещо от това ден след ден да следиш, ден след ден да откриваш какво е унищожено в тебе.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“It was not very likely, of course, but then all kinds of things are possible, after all.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“Mais n'exagérons rien, puisque c'est là le problème: je suis ici et je sais bien que j'accepte tous les arguments, au prix de pouvoir vivre”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“Ήταν εκείνη η συγκεκριμένη ώρα, ακόμα και τώρα, ακόμα κι εδώ την αναγνώριζα, ώρα που αγαπούσα περισσότερο απ' όλες στο στρατόπεδο και τότε με τύλιξε ένα έντονο, οδυνηρό, μάταιο συναίσθημα: νοσταλγία”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“I already know there will be happiness. For even there, next to the chimneys, in the intervals between the torments, there was something that resembled happiness. Everyone asks only about the hardships and the “atrocities,” whereas for me perhaps it is that experience which will remain the most memorable. Yes, the next time I am asked, I ought to speak about that, the happiness of the concentration camps.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“И докато оглеждах спокойния предзалезен площад насред разбитата, но пълна с хиляди обещания улица, почувствах как расте, как се надига готовността ми: да продължа тоя непродължим живот. Няма на света безумие, което да не сме в състояние да преживеем естествено и знам, че по пътя ми вече ме дебне щастието, като неизбежен капан. Та нали още там, край комините, в паузите на страданията съществуваше нещо, което можеше да се оприличи на щастие. Всеки пита само за превратностите, за "ужасите": макар че за мен навярно именно онова преживяване е останало най-паметно. Да, това трябва да им разкажа следващия път, ако ме попитат.
Ако ме попитат. И ако самият аз не забравя.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
“Despite all deliberation, sense, insight, and sober reason, I could not fail to recognize within myself the furtive and yet—ashamed as it might be, so to say, of its irrationality—increasingly insistent voice of some muffled craving of sorts: I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentration camp.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Fatelessness
Imre Kertész
Born place: in Budapest, Hungary
Born date November 9, 1929
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“The problem isn't who is in charge. It's what is in charge. The problem is that people are encouraged to function as machines. Or, actually, as mechanisms. Human emotion and sympathy are unprofessional. They are inappropriate to the exercise of reason. Everything which makes people good - makes them human - is ruled out. The system doesn't care about people, but we treat it as if it were one of us, as if it were the sum of our goods and not the product of our least admirable compromises.”
― Nick Harkaway, quote from The Gone-Away World
“Revolution doesn't have to do with smashing something; it has to do with bringing something forth. If you spend all your time thinking about that which you are attacking, then you are negatively bound to it. You have to find the zeal in yourself and bring that out.”
― Joseph Campbell, quote from Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation
“It is absolutely okay with me if you need to keep some secrets. I've been thinking about this and I decided that a best friend is someone who, when they don't understand, they still understand.”
― Nancy Werlin, quote from Impossible
“If you're brave enough to try, you might be able to catch a train from UnLondon to Parisn't, or No York, or Helsunki, or Lost Angeles, or Sans Francisco, or Hong Gone, or Romeless.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Now, what is forbidden to the summoner, or any wizard, is to call a living spirit. We can call to them, yes. We can send to them a voice or a presentment, a seeming, of ourself. But we do not summon them, in spirit or in flesh, to come to us. Only the dead may we summon. Only the shadows. You can see why this must be. To summon a living man is to have entire power over him, body and mind. No one, no matter how strong or wise or great, can rightly own and use another.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, quote from Tales from Earthsea
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The EnchantedBookQuoters 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.
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