Irvin D. Yalom · 272 pages
Rating: (3.5K votes)
“I explain to my patients that abused children often find it hard to disentangle themselves from their dysfunctional families, whereas children grow away from good, loving parents with far less conflict. After all, isn't that the task of a good parent, to enable the child to leave home?”
“every single person in the world is fundamentally alone. It’s hard, but that’s the way it is, and we have to face it.”
“I hate it that she has so insinuated herself into the interstices of my mind that I can never root her out. And most of all, I hate that at the end of my life I feel compelled to ask, "How'd I do, Mama?".”
“Credinta, oricat de pasionata, de pura, de arzatoare, nu spune absolut nimic despre realitatea existentei lui Dumnezeu”
“Am invatat demult ca atunci cand intre doua persoane este un lucru grav si nu vorbesc despre el, nu vorbesc nici despre altceva important.”
“Confruntarea cu moartea iminenta poate sa propulseze omul in intelepciune si la o noua profunzime a existentei.”
“Cinstea mai presus de toate. Un sceptic convins in toate celelalte privinte, Ernest credea cu o fervoare fundamentalista in forta tamaduitoare a cinstei. Catehismul lui cerea cinste – insa o cinste temperata, selectiva. Si cinste responsabila, plina de grija: cinste in serviciul ingrijirii.”
“Oamenii se iubesc pe ei insisi daca vad o imagine iubitoare a lor reflectata in ochii cuiva de care le pasa cu adevarat.”
“Am invatat in munca mea, ca se tem cel mai mult de moarte cei care se apropie de ea avand prea multa viata netraita in ei. Cel mai bine este sa ne folosim toata viata. Sa nu-i lasam mortii decat drojdiile, nimic altceva decat un castel ars pana in temelii.”
“Nu numai ca fictiunea isi are propriul adevar, dar orice povestire, oricat de „adevarata”, este o minciuna pentru ca omite atat de multe.”
“It wouldn't pay to get fresh with a missionary.”
“I can feel that photo of Anna staring at me from sixty years ago, and I can’t help myself from wanting to protect her, wanting to save her from becoming what she already is.”
“He lifted her up onto the table so that her face was level with his, and as they kissed it seemed that words were hiding in the air around them, that they were invisible creatures that feathered against her and Arin, then nudged, and buzzed, and tugged.
Speak, they said.
Speak, the kiss answered.”
“All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.”
“I didn’t want her to be like me, robbed of innocence and idealism, baptized in the bloody waters of randomness and cruelty, the fabric of trust forever torn.”
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