Hotel Silence

All suffering is unique and different,” she said once, “and therefore it can’t be compared. Happiness, on the other hand, is similar.

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly

Then a generation will grow up without any memory of it. Then there’ll be the danger of a new war.” She falls silent. “That won’t be for another ten years yet, though,” she adds, “because that’s how long it takes to create a new generation of men.

At our latitudes people mostly kill themselves in the spring. People can’t bear the idea of the earth renewing itself. Of everything starting anew except themselves.

The only way to continue is to pretend we lead a normal life. To pretend everything is okay. To shut one’s eyes to the destruction.

Sorrow is like a piece of glass in the throat,” she says.

There are so many voices in the world and none of them is without meaning

My unhappiness is at best inane when compared to the ruins and dust that lie outside my window.

We need to calculate the damage caused by the people who profit from war and make them pay for it,” I hear her continue. “That way they would understand that war is much more expensive than peace. In any case, the only language they understand is money,” she adds.

I am a watercolor. I wash off

We who are in the know and do nothing are the guilty ones.

It takes only one sentence to blow up a village. Two sentences to destroy the world.

In the land of death there isn’t the same urgency to die.

I can’t read books anymore,” I hear him say. “When I was a boy I read a lot, but then I stopped with the war.” He hesitates again. “It takes only one sentence to blow up a village. Two sentences to destroy the world.

Some people don’t follow you all the way,” she added.

I’ve passed the dying age of artists.

Since you came out of your mother’s womb there have been 568 wars,” says the voice from the armchair.

Wszystkie kobiety kogoś straciły: mężów, ojców, synów lub braci. Dzieci straciły ojców i starszych braci. Ci, którzy przeżyli, potrafili ręce, nogi, różne części ciała. (...) Potem dorośnie nowe pokolenie, które nie będzie tego pamiętać. Wtedy może zacząć się kolejna wojna.

- Wiesz, że człowiek to jedyne zwierzę, które płacze? Uśmiecha się od ucha do ucha. - Nie, tego nie wiedziałam. Myślałam, że jest jedynym zwierzęciem, które się śmieje.

The light from the stars needs time

Despite the fear, I still clearly remember the stars at night. And the moon too, yes.

I wanted to study history,” he says, “that’s if I’d gone to college. But ever since I realised that it’s only written by the victors, I don’t want to anymore.