Czesław Miłosz · 320 pages
Rating: (318 votes)
“The creative act of the artist lifts him above himself by demanding full surrender. No one puts words on paper or paint on canvas, doubting. If one doubts, one does so five minutes later...”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“No, non imiterò mai coloro che cancellano le proprie tracce, ripudiano il proprio passato e sono morti, anche se con equilibrismi intellettuali fanno finta di essere vivi. Le mie radici sono laggiù, all’Est, su questo non v’è alcun dubbio. Anche se trovo difficile e spiacevole spiegare chi sono, bisogna pur tentare di farlo.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“Come tutte le biblioteche, era chiusa al pubblica e sottoposta all’amministrazione centrale tedesca, ma conservava il vecchio personale, il quale, pur avendo stipendi da fame, rimaneva al proprio posto per un patriottismo aziendale – i bibliotecari d’altronde costituiscono una razza speciale, capace di nutrirsi del solo amore per i propri libri.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“[…] perché esistono dei mostri che nessuno può vincere in un combattimento faccia a faccia.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“[…] alla fin fine, bisogna saper apprezzare i vantaggi che si traggono dalle proprie origini.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“Sono gli impiegati che inventano, in fin dei conti, tutte queste scartoffie [i passaporti] per avvelenare la vita agli uomini, e le loro disposizioni non vanno prese troppo sul serio.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
“Oggi penso talvolta che il vicino dell’Elefante poteva essere il futuro ufficiale della Gestapo che lo avrebbe torturato durante gli interrogatori. L’Elefante non era fatto per stare in prigione perché membro di una qualche organizzazione clandestina, non era fatto per sopportare la slogatura delle articolazioni e gli schiaffi né poi, con le gambe rotte dopo un tentativo di fuga nel suicidio, per capire con sollievo, in un resto di consapevolezza, che il suo povero corpo stava morendo. Ma il gioviale Elefante era nato per vivere in armonia e pace, tra gli scherzi bonari e le chiacchierate con gli amici davanti a un bicchiere di vino. Era liberale, scettico e restio alle tentazioni dell’eroismo. A mio parere, la sua morte e quella dei suoi simili grava sui Wandervögel nostri coetanei assai di più della morte di molti giovani fanatici.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
Czesław Miłosz
Born place: in Šeteniai, Lithuania
Born date June 30, 1911
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“Prisons are built to break men, and when men are broken society has consummated its revenge”
― Jan Valtin, quote from Out of the Night: The Memoir of Richard Julius Herman Krebs alias Jan Valtin
“For he is not poor who has little; only he that desires much … and true security lies not in the things one has but in the things one can do without.”
― Og Mandino, quote from The Greatest Miracle in the World
“So why don’t Americans cheat? Because they think that their system is legitimate. People accept authority when they see that it treats everyone equally, when it is possible to speak up and be heard, and when there are rules in place that assure you that tomorrow you won’t be treated radically different from how you are treated today. Legitimacy is based on fairness, voice and predictability, and the U.S. government, as much as Americans like to grumble about it, does a pretty good job of meeting all three standards. Pg. 293”
― Malcolm Gladwell, quote from David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (Audio CD)
“Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life.”
― Paulo Coelho, quote from Akras manuskripts
“...the people who take their coffee orders far too personally, who have deep-seated emotional issues about how many pumps of mocha they get.”
― Sandy Hall, quote from A Little Something Different
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