“Nu puteam crede că sunt și eu asemenea celorlalte mii de muritori nefericiți, care iubesc și uită, și mor fără să socotească nimic etern, nimic definitiv.”
“Am iubit întotdeauna pe mai multe planuri, n-am ştiut să sacrific totul pentru un sâmbure de adevăr sau de viaţă, de aceea m-am lovit de toate pragurile şi m-au dus valurile cum au vrut.”
“Atunci am înțeles că nimic nu durează în suflet, că cea mai verificată încredere poate fi anulată de un singur gest, că cele mai sincere posesiuni nu dovedesc niciodată nimic, căci și sinceritatea poate fi repetată, cu altul, cu alții, că, în sfârșit, totul se uită sau se poate uita.”
“Mă leg pe tine, pământule, că eu voi fi a lui Allan, și a nimănui altuia. Voi crește din el ca iarba din tine. Și cum aștepți tu ploaia, așa îi voi aștepta eu venirea, și cum îți sunt ție razele, așa va fi trupul lui mie. Mă leg în fața ta că unirea noastră va rodi, căci mi-e drag cu voia mea, și tot răul, dacă va fi, să nu cadă asupra lui, ci asupră-mi, căci eu l-am ales. Tu mă auzi, mamă pământ, tu nu mă minți, maica mea. Dacă mă simți aproape, cum te simt eu acum, și cu mâna și cu inelul, întărește-mă să-l iubesc totdeauna, bucurie necunoscută lui să-i aduc, viață de rod și de joc să-i dau. Să fie viața noastră ca bucuria ierburilor ce cresc din tine. Să fie îmbrățișarea noastră ca cea dintâi zi a monsoon-ului. Ploaie să fie sărutul nostru. Și cum tu niciodată nu obosești, maica mea, tot astfel să nu obosească inima mea în dragostea pentru Allan, pe care cerul l-a născut departe, și tu, maică, mi l-ai adus aproape.”
“...cineva care știe a iubi cu adevărat poate experimenta voluptatea oricât de neînsemnată ar fi atingerea trupului celuilalt. Îi explicasem atunci că, pentru mine, posesiunea e mult mai neînțeleasă și mai complicată decât se pare. E foarte greu să ai ceva cu adevărat, să-l capeți sau să-l cucerești. Mai mult ne închipuim că posedăm decât posedăm.”
“Când ești bătrân, iubești mai mult și suferi mai puțin.”
“E ciudat cât de incapabil sunt să prevăd evenimente esențiale, să ghicesc oamenii care schimbă mai târziu firul vieții mele”
“What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute master of my liberty and my life; if it monopolizes vitality and existence to such a degree that when it languishes, everything around it must also languish; when it sleeps, everything must also sleep; and when it dies, everything must also perish?
There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved. They are so divorced from their own interests that even when their own security and that of their children is finally compromised, they do not seek to avert the danger themselves but cross their arms and wait for the nation as a whole to come to their aid. Yet as utterly as they sacrifice their own free will, they are no fonder of obedience than anyone else. They submit, it is true, to the whims of a clerk, but no sooner is force removed than they are glad to defy the law as a defeated enemy. Thus one finds them ever wavering between servitude and license.
When a nation has reached this point, it must either change its laws and mores or perish, for the well of public virtue has run dry: in such a place one no longer finds citizens but only subjects.”
“Once upon a time I was such a good liar; I could talk the fish right into my mouths.”
“We were not a hugging people. In terms of emotional comfort it was our belief that no amount of physical contact could match the healing powers of a well made cocktail.”
“You make me feel things, Beth. That´s why you have to stay. Hell´s whole lot brighter with you in it.”
“So there I was being strangled by a ranting, half-naked madman in the middle of the woods, with a she-werewolf dangling from a rope snare somewhere nearby.”
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