Quotes from Gomorrah

“Ad aver dato fastidio alle organizzazioni criminali è il mio lettore, non sono io. Il mio lettore è ciò che loro non vogliono, il fatto che in questo momento ne stiamo parlando, che ne hanno parlato tutti i giornali, che continuano ad uscire libri, che continuano a nascere documentari, è tutto questo che loro non vogliono, è l'attenzione su di loro, sui loro nomi, soprattutto sui loro affari.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Everyone I know is either dead or in jail. I want to become a boss. I want to have supermarkets, stores,
factories, I want to have women. I want three cars, I want respect when I go into a store, I want to have
warehouses all over the world. And then I want to die. I want to die like a man, like someone who truly
commands. I want to be killed.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Sea lo que sea que hagas, será siempre una equivocación por un motivo u otro. Esa es la verdadera soledad.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Era o Sistema que alimentava o grande mercado internacional da moda, o enorme arquipélago da elegância italiana. Cada recanto do globo fora atingido pelas grifes, pelos homens, pelos produtos do Sistema. Sistema, um termo aqui conhecido por todos, mas que em alguns lugares ainda está por ser decifrado, uma referência desconhecida para quem não conhece as dinâmicas do poder da economia do crime. Camorra é uma palavra inexistente, para policiais. É usada pelos magistrados, pelos jornalistas, pelos cineastas. É uma palavra que faz rir seus filiados, é uma indicação genérica, um termo para estudiosos, relegado à dimensão histórica. O termo em que se definem os pertences a um clã é Sistema: "Pertenço ao Sistema de Secondigliano". Um termo eloquente, um mecanismo mais do que uma estrutura. A organização criminosa coincide diretamente com a economia, a dialética comercial é a estrutura dos clãs.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Saber, entender, se convierte en una necesidad. La única posible para considerarse aún hombres dignos de respirar.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Todas las mercancías tienen un origen oscuro. Es la ley del capitalismo.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“The firepower uncovered in March 2005 in Sant’Anastasia, a town at the foot of Vesuvius, was
stunning. The discovery came about partly by chance, and partly by the lack of discipline of the arms
traffickers: customers and drivers started fighting on the street because they couldn’t agree on the
price. When the carabinieri arrived, they removed the interior panels of the truck parked near the
brawl, discovering one of the largest mobile depots they had ever seen. Uzis with four magazines,
seven clips, and 112 380-caliber bullets, Russian and Czech machine guns able to fire 950 shots a
minute. (Nine hundred fifty shots a minute was the firing power of American helicopters in Vietnam.)
Weapons for ripping apart tanks and entire divisions of men, not for Camorra family fights on the
slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Almost new, well-oiled, rifle numbers still intact, just in from Kraków.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Creemos estúpidamente que, por alguna razón, un acto criminal debe ser más premeditado y deliberado que un acto inocuo. En realidad no hay diferencia. Los actos poseen una elasticidad de la que los juicios éticos carecen.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Un imperio no se escinde dando un apretón de manos, sino cortándolas con una cuchilla.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Ernst Jünger would say that greatness consists in being exposed to the storm.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Cuando se muere en la calle se acaba formando un estruendo horroroso alrededor. No es verdad que se muera solo. Se acaba con caras que no se conocen delante de las narices, personas que tocan piernas y brazos para averiguar si el cuerpo es ya cadáver o vale la pena pedir que vaya una ambulancia.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Se cree que la última palabra pronunciada por un moribundo es su último pensamiento, el más importante, el fundamental. Que muere pronunciando aquello por lo que ha valido la pena vivir. No es así. Cuando uno muere no sale a la luz nada excepto el miedo. Todos, o casi todos, repiten la misma frase banal, sencilla, inmediata: «No quiero morir».”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“La justicia es un principio abstracto que afecta a todos, que permite, según cómo se interprete, absolver o condenar a todo ser humano: culpables los ministros, culpables los papas, culpables los santos y los herejes, culpables los revolucionarios y los reaccionarios. Culpables todos de haber traicionado, matado, errado. Culpables de haber envejecido y muerto. Culpables de haber sido superados y derrotados. Culpables todos ante el tribunal universal de la moral histórica y absueltos por el de la necesidad. Justicia e injusticia sólo tienen un significado en lo concreto. De victoria o derrota, de acción realizada o padecida. Si alguien te ofende, si te trata mal, está cometiendo una injusticia; si, en cambio, te reserva un trato de favor, te hace justicia.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

“Cuando ves tanta sangre por el suelo empiezas a tocarte, compruebas que tú no estás herido, que en aquella sangre no está también la tuya, empiezas a entrar en un estado de ansiedad psicótica, intentas asegurarte de que no haya heridas en tu cuerpo, de que no te hayas herido por casualidad, sin darte cuenta. Y aun así, no crees que en un hombre pueda haber tanta sangre, estás seguro de que tú tienes mucha menos. Cuando te convences de que esa sangre no la has perdido tú, no es suficiente: te sientes desangrado aunque la hemorragia no sea tuya. Tú mismo te conviertes en hemorragia, notas las piernas flojas, la boca pastosa, notas las manos disueltas en aquel lago denso, quisieras que alguien te mirase el interior de los ojos para comprobar el nivel de anemia. Quisieras llamar a un enfermero y pedir una transfusión, quisieras tener el estómago menos cerrado y comer un filete, si consigues no vomitar. Tienes que cerrar los ojos y no respirar. El olor de sangre coagulada que ya ha impregnado también las paredes de la habitación sabe a hierro oxidado. Tienes que salir al aire libre antes de que echen serrín sobre la sangre, porque la mezcla despide un olor terrible que hace imposible contener las ganas de vomitar.”
― Roberto Saviano, quote from Gomorrah

About the author

Popular quotes

“Time isn’t a commodity, something you pass around like a cake. Time is the substance of life. When anyone asks you to give your time, they’re really asking for a chunk of your life. ~ Antoinette Bosco”
― M.J. DeMarco, quote from The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime!

“She was magic, a direct light—the kind that seeps through in places that didn’t exist inside him anymore. The light he thought he lost forever, but Nick realized we don’t lose the light, we absorb it, and with Olivia he wanted to absorb every small speck of it.”
― Maria La Serra, quote from The Proverbial Mr. Universe

“Some things that are invisible and untouchable can nevertheless be seen and felt.”
― Michael Chabon, quote from Summerland

“Dear Oscar

I don’t know how to say this any other way but, you see, I need to explain something. I can’t stop thinking about that night when you rescued Barney with you tart – and how good and kind I realise you’ve always been. It wasn’t until this morning when you sent me an apple tart of my own that I finally knew what it is that I have to tell you.
The timing is pretty terrible, but, you see, the reason I haven’t wanted to go away is because I’ve wanted to stay here, and the reason I’ve wanted to stay here is because of you.
I’ve nothing against New Zealand or anything but because of how I feel, specifically about you, the whole world looks different.
I don’t know whether it’s because of everything has got darker or lighter. I guess that depends on how you feel about me which is, I hope, the same.
So anyways, look, you’ve convinced me that I should, as you say ‘embrace the adventure’ so that is what I have decided to do. It was the taste of you apple tart that finally made up my mind to give this my all. But I need to know you’ll be here when I come back.
I love you Oscar Dunleavy.
I’ve been falling in love with you since that day we first met.
I need to have some idea about whether you feel the same way about me. Send me a sign.
Anything will do.
Love,
Meg”
― Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, quote from The Apple Tart of Hope

“Among the families I grew up with, and within my own, there is always the game. This competition to be more, have more, to seek position, status.”
― Julian North, quote from Age of Order

Interesting books

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.