Matsuo Bashō · 224 pages
Rating: (454 votes)
“Sadly, I part from you;
Like a clam torn from its shell,
I go, and autumn too.”
― Matsuo Bashō, quote from Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings
“Lonely stillness— a single cicada’s cry sinking into stone”
― Matsuo Bashō, quote from Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings
“A warbler singing— somewhere beyond the willow, before the thicket”
― Matsuo Bashō, quote from Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings
“The past remains hidden in clouds of memory.”
― Matsuo Bashō, quote from Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings
“Spring passes
and the birds cry out—tears
in the eyes of fishes”
― Matsuo Bashō, quote from Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings
“Tu, Rússia, és como o cavalo! Dois cascos dianteiros projetados para a escuridão, pasa o zazio; e os dois cascos traseiros cravados firmemente no solo de granito.
Queres tu também te separar da pedra que te segura, da mesma maneira que alguns dos teus filhos loucos que se apartaram do torrão pátrio - queres tu também te separar da pedra que te sustenta e ficar suspensa no ar, sem rédeas, para precipitar-te depois no caos das águas? Ou talvez queira lançar-te, rompendo as neblinas, através do espaço, para desaparecer, juntamente com os teus filhos, nas nuvens? Ou, empinada, puseste-te a meditar por muitos anos, oh, Rússia, diante do terrível destino que aqui te lançou - no meio deste norte soturno, onde até o ocaso leva muitas horas, onde o próprio tempo se lança, ora na noite gelada, ora - no resplendor do dia? Ou, temerosa do salto, baixarás novamente os cascos para levar, bufando, o enorme Cavaleiro das terras ilusórias para o fundo dos espaços planos?
Que assim não seja!...
Tendo uma vez se empinado e medido o espaço com o olhar, não baixará mais os cascos: o salto sobre a história: haverá; haverá uma grande agitação, rachar-se-á a terra; abalados pelo grande temor, irão ruir os próprios montes e as planícies queridas virarão um mar de corcovas. Nijni Nóvgorod, Vladímir e Uglitch ficarão sobre as corcovas.
Mas Petersburgo afundará.
Nesses dias todos os povos da terra irão arremeter-se de seus lugares; haverá uma grande batalha, - uma batalha inédita no mundo: hostes amarelas de asiáticos deixarão os locais tradicionais de sua habitação para manchar os campos da Europa com oceanos de sangue; haverá, haverá - Sushima! Haverá - uma nova Kalka!...
Campo de Kulikovo, à tua espera estou!
E neste dia o último sol resplandecerá sobre a minha terra pátria. Se, oh, Sol, se tu não nasceres, então, oh, Sol, as costas européias irão afundar sob o pesado calcanhar mongólico, e sobre essas costas irá encrespar-se a espuma; criaturas nascidas na Terra descerão novamente para o fundo dos oceanos - para o caos, progênito a muito tempo esquecido...
Nasce, oh, Sol!”
― Andrei Bely, quote from Petersburg
“I have often thought I should change my name to something more fitting. 'Damned for all eternity' or 'Swims in the lake of fire'. I'll have to think on that some more, find a way to condense it so it rolls off the tongue better.”
― Travis Luedke, quote from Blood Slave
“Jack met Kwan’s eyes, glanced away, then looked back. Jack nodded once, kind of like saying hi, but Kwan did not respond. His lean face was all planes and angles, and as warm as a granite mask. He also had a split lip and a heavy purple bruise on his cheek from the guards. Jack”
― Robert Crais, quote from Taken
“The degree of ignorance cannot easily be expressed. We may say, for instance, that nearly two-thirds of them cannot read or write. This but partially expresses the fact. They are ignorant of the world about them, of modern economic organization, of the function of government, of individual worth and possibilities,—of nearly all those things which slavery in self-defence had to keep them from learning. Much that the white boy imbibes from his earliest social atmosphere forms the puzzling problems of the black boy’s mature years. America is not another word for Opportunity to all her sons.”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, quote from The Souls of Black Folk
“The past reappears because it is a hidden present.”
― Octavio Paz, quote from The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings
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