Sam Savage · 162 pages
Rating: (5.2K votes)
“I always think everything is going to last forever, but nothing ever does. In fact nothing exists longer than an instant except the thing that we hold in memory”
“Unrequited love is bad, but unrequitable love can really get you down.”
“I had learned from my reading that you can do really awful things when you are bored, things that are bound to make you miserable. In fact, you do them in order to become miserable, so you won't have to be bored anymore.”
“Sometimes the books were arranged under signs, but sometimes they were just anywhere and everywhere. After I understood people better, I realized that this incredible disorder was one of the things that they loved about Pembroke Books. They did not come there just to buy a book, plunk down some cash and scram. They hung around. They called it browsing, but it was more like excavation or mining. I was surprised they didn't come in with shovels. They dug for treasures with bare hands, up to their armpits sometimes, and when they hauled some literary nugget from a mound of dross, they were much happier than if they had just walked in and bought it. In that way, shopping at Pembroke was like reading: you never knew what you might encounter on the next page -- the next shelf, stack, or box --and that was part of the pleasure of it.”
“It is practically an axiom in psychiatry that precocious intellect combined with physical weakness can give rise to many unpleasant character traits - avarice, delusions of grandeur , and obsessive masturbation, to name just a few. ”
“Lives in stories have direction and meaning. Even stupid, meaningless lives, like Lenny's in "Of Mice and Men," Acquire through their places in a story at least the dignity and meaning of being Stupid, Meaningless Lives, the consolation of being exemplars of something. In real life you do not get even that.”
“Разликата между маската, която си надяваш, за да постигнеш свобода, и маската, която ти се натрапва, е всъщност разликата между спасението и затвора.”
“I stared at the words and they did not swim or blur. Rats have no tears. Dry and cold was the world and beautiful the words. Words of good-bye and farewell, farewell and so long, from the little one and the Big One. I folded the passage up again and I ate it.”
“И започнах да пътувам - в пространството и времето - чрез книгите, за да докажа това. Чрез Даниел Дефо се отбих в Лондон, за да направя обиколка с гид из чумавата година. Чух онзи, който бие камбаната, да вика "Изнесете мъртвите си" и подуших дима от подпалените трупове. Все още го усещам в ноздрите си.
Хората измират като плъхове в Лондон, всъщност плъховете също измираха - като хора. След като прекарах два часа там, усетих нужда да сменя пейзажа, при което отидох в Китай и се изкачих по стръмната, тясна пътека сред бамбук и кипариси, за да поседна на прага на малката планинска хижа заедно със стария Ту Фу. Тихо се взирах в млечната мъгла, издигаща се над долината, слушах вятъра в тръстиковите навеси и глухото ехо на камбаните в далечен храм - и двамата бяхме "всеки сам с десет хиляди неща".”
“Голямата интимност се изражда в безкрайно отчуждение.”
“Rata que debería estar muerta y no está muerta. Débil y sucia, pero no muerta, nada muerta, ahí estaba yo, vivo, debajo de un arbusto; y tenía un plan.”
“گاهی فکر می کنم تنها چیزی که آدم در زندگی نیاز دارد یک خروار پف فیل است و چندتایی دلبرک.”
“А в Африка гладуващите деца ядат истински боклук. Ако си много гладен, ще си готов да изядеш всичко. Самият акт на дъвчене и поглъщане, па макар и това, което поглъщаш да не нахранва тялото ти, нахранва мечтите ти. А мечтите за храна са като всички останали мечти - можеш да живееш от тях докато не умреш.”
“Няма по-нормален начин да се създаде топло другарско чувство от разрушението. В продължение на няколко минути, попаднали в мелето, всички ние се чувствахме като голямо и щастливо семейство. Когато ме помолят да разкажа някоя весела случка от детството си, аз винаги изваждам тази, за да покажа колко нормални бяхме всъщност.”
“Malo es el amor no correspondido; pero lo que verdaderamente puede hundirlo a uno es el amor no correspondible.”
“Изреждаш ги, после бавно произнасяш на глас всяко едно и ги оставяш да разбият сърцето ти. "Оливър Туист", "Хъкълбери Фин", "Веилият Гетсби", "Мъртви души", "Мидълмарч", "Алиса в страната на чудесата", "Бащи и синове", "Гроздовете на гнева", "Пътят на плътта", "Американска трагедия", "Питър Пан", "Червено и черно", "Любовникът на лейди Чатърли".”
“Красноречив до степен на бъбривост, аз бях обречен на мълчание.
…
На света има два вида животни - такива, които са надарени с език, и такива, които не са. Животните надарени с език, от своя страна се разделят на две групи - говорещи и слушащи. Към последните се отнасят най-вече кучетата. Кучетата обаче, бидейки извънредно глупави, понасят афазията си с някаква сервилна радост, която изразяват в помахване на опашка. Моят случай далеч не беше такъв. Аз не понасях мисълта, че е възможно да прекарам дните си в мълчание.”
“Въпреки това Джери никога не се вбесяваше от приказките им. Много внимателно им обясняваше, че всъщност е богат, защото е свободен, защото не е роб на заплатата си и не се блъска по осем часа на ден в някаква безмислена канцелария.”
“Quien no siente el deseo de volver a vivir la vida es porque la ha desperdiciado.”
“در آفریقا در دوران قحطی بچه های گرسنه خاک می خورند. اگر حسابی گرسنه باشی، هرچیزی می خوری. همان جویدن و قورت دادن چیزی، حتی اگر بدن را تغذیه نکند، رویاهایت را تغذیه می کند. و رویای غذا درست مثل رویاهای دیگر است. می توانی تا لحظه مرگ با آن ها زندگی کنی.”
“Los sueños de comida son como cualquier otro sueño: puedes vivir de ellos, mientras no te mueras.”
“Si hay algo para lo que resulte útil una formación literaria, es para dotarlo a uno de un sentido de la catástrofe. No hay nada como una imaginación vivida para desvitalizarle a uno el valor.”
“La diferencia entre ponerse una máscara, que siempre es ocasión de libertad, y que le obliguen a uno a ponérsela, es la misma que hay entre refugio y cárcel.”
“E da loro appresi un insegnamento prezioso: per quanto piccolo e insignificante tu possa essere, nulla vieta che la tua follia sia tra le più grandi.”
“If a society thinks it needs weapons, it must accept killing. If it thinks it needs violent men, it must accept rapine and assault.”
“Enchantment. A peppermint. A salty kiss.
An interesting beginning to the fresh New Tear.”
“Lizzy Elmsworth was not a good-tempered girl, but she was too intelligent to let her temper interfere with her opportunities.”
“No matter how good you think you are
or how clever... How many fancy new friends
you make on the telly... The reality of footballing life is this:
The chairman is the boss, then comes the directors...
Then the secretary, then the fans, then the players...
And then finally, last of all... bottom of the heap,
the lowest of the low... comes the one, who in the end, we can all do without...
The fucking manager.”
“This was probably rooted in a belief that had been inculcated to him from the get-go: that there was an objective reality, which all people worth talking to could observe and understand, and that there was no point in arguing about anything that could be so observed and so understood. As long as you made a point of hanging out exclusively with people who had the wit to see and to understand that objective reality, you didn’t have to waste a lot of time talking. When a thunderstorm was headed your way across the prairie, you took the washing down from the line and closed the windows. It wasn’t necessary to have a meeting about it. The sales force didn’t need to get involved.”
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