Quotes from Papillon

“We have too much technological
progress, life is too hectic, and our society has only one goal: to invent
still more technological marvels to make life even easier and better.
The craving for every new scientific discovery breeds a hunger for
greater comfort and the constant struggle to achieve it. All that kills the
soul, kills compassion, understanding, nobility. It leaves no time for
caring what happens to other people, least of all criminals. Even the
officials in Venezuela's remote areas are better for they're also
concerned with public peace. It gives them many headaches, but they
seem to believe that bringing about a man's salvation is worth the
effort. I find that magnificent.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“I’ve known this a long time, because when Napoleon III created the bagnes and was asked: “But who will guard these bandits?” he answered: “Worse bandits.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“We have too much technological progress, life is too hectic, and our society has only one goal: to invent still more technological marvels to make life even easier and better. The craving for every new scientific discovery breeds a hunger for greater comfort and the constant struggle to achieve it. All that kills the soul, kills compassion, understanding, nobility. It leaves no time for caring what happens to other people, least of all criminals.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“I must prove that I can be, that I am and will be, a normal person. Perhaps no better, but certainly no worse than the rest.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“It was worth having made this break for the people, the human beings it had brought me into contact with. Although it had failed, my escape had been a victory, merely by having enriched my heart with the friendship of these wonderful people. No, I was not sorry. I had done it.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“The important thing was that we were alive...”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“This was 1941 and I'd been in prison eleven years. I was thirty-five. I'd spent the best years of my life either in a cell or in a black-hole. I'd only had seven months of total freedom with my Indian tribe. The children my Indian wives must have had by me would be eight years old now. How terrible! How quickly the time had flashed by! But a backward glance showed all these hours and minutes studding my calvary as terribly long, and each one of them hard to bear.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“Those who haven't been exposed to the hypocrisies of a civilized education react to things 'naturally', as they happen. It is in the here and now that they are either happy or unhappy, joyful or sad, interested or indifferent.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“Sleep in peace, you members of the jury who condemned me to this place; sleep in peace,”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“You want me to be killed? Why are you taking away my knife? I guess you realize you’re sending me to my grave?”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“He even whispered in my ear: “You suffer; you will suffer more. But this time I am on your side. You will be free. You will, I promise you.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“What should we do? I was beginning to understand a few words of Spanish: to escape, fugar; prisoner, preso; to kill, matar; chain, cadena; handcuffs, esposas; man, hombre; woman, mujer.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“I am not a good enough writer to convey the intense emotion I felt over my newfound self-respect. It was a rehabilitation, if not a new life. This imaginary baptism, the immersion in purity, the elevation of my being above the filth in which I'd been mired and, overnight, this sense of responsibility, made me into a different man. The convict's complexes that make him hear his chains and suspect he's being watched even after he's freed, everything I'd seen, gone through, suffered, everything that was making me tarnished, rotten and dangerous, passively obedient on the surface but terribly dangerous in rebellion, all that had disappeared as if by a miracle.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“evet, şu sıra yalnızlığa katlanabilmek, eskisinden de güç. . Öyle bir haldeyim ki, düşüncelerimle geçmişte ve günümüzde gezinmek için gözlerimi kapamam bile gerekmiyor.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“Mahkümluk serüvenimn son gecesinn siniriyle hamağımda dönüp duruyorm. Yerimden kalkıyor,son aylarda çok iyi baktığm bahçemde geziniyorum.Ay ışığı ortalığı gün gibi aydınlatıyor. Nehrin suyu, gürültü etmeden denize doğru akıyor. Kuş sesi duyulmuyor, hepsi uykuda. Gökyüzü yıldızlarla kaplı, ama ay öylesine parlak ki yıldızları görebilmek için ona sırt çevirmek gerek. Tam karşımda sık orman, tek açıklık..El Dorado köyünün yapıldığı yer. Doğanın bu derin sessizliği beni dinlendiriyor. İçimdeki telaş yavaş yavaş diniyor, bu anın durgunluğu…ihtiyaç duyduğum huzuru sağlıyor bana”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“Една пеперуда влетя — бледосиня с тънка черна лента, а някъде близо до нея зад прозореца зажужа пчела. Какво ли правеха тези живинки тук? Дали ги беше объркало зимното слънце, или търсеха да се скрият в затвора от студ? Пеперудата зиме е случайно възкръснало същество. Как ли се е спасила от смъртта? А пчеличката защо ли е напуснала кошера си? Каква неосъзната храброст — да дойдат тук! Добре че отговорникът няма криле, защото иначе няма за дълго да ги остави живички.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“the butterflies that had just hatched hurried into the light to find love as”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

“...pergunto a mim próprio até que ponto o silêncio absoluto
e o completo isolamento infligidos a um jovem encerrado numa cela podem,
antes de o levarem à loucura, dar azo a uma verdadeira vida imaginativa.
Vida de tal modo intensa , de tal modo viva, que o indivíduo se desdobra literalmente.
Levanta voo e vai vagabundear por onde lhe apetece. (...), os castelos no ar que o seu
fecundo espírito inventa, que ele cria com uma imaginação tão incrivelmente fértil que, (...),
chega a pensar que está a viver tudo quanto vai sonhando.”
― Henri Charrière, quote from Papillon

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“So it was that the Red Tower put into production its new, more terrible and perplexing, line of unique novelty items. Among the objects and constructions now manufactured were several of an almost innocent nature. These included tiny, delicate cameos that were heavier than their size would suggest, far heavier, and lockets whose shiny outer surface flipped open to reveal a black reverberant abyss inside, a deep blackness roaring with echoes. Along the same lines was a series of lifelike replicas of internal organs and physiological structures, many of them evidencing an advanced stages of disease and all of them displeasingly warm and soft to the touch. There was a fake disembodied hand on which fingernails would grow several inches overnight and insistently grew back should one attempt to clip them. Numerous natural objects, mostly bulbous gourds, were designed to produce a long, deafening scream whenever they were picked up or otherwise disturbed in their vegetable stillness. Less scrutable were such things as hardened globs of lava into whose rough, igneous forms were sent a pair of rheumy eyes that perpetually shifted their gaze from side to side like a relentless pendulum. And there was also a humble piece of cement, a fragment broken away from any street or sidewalk, that left a most intractable stain, greasy and green, on whatever surface it was placed. But such fairly simple items were eventually followed, and ultimately replaced, by more articulated objects and constructions. One example of this complex type of novelty item was an ornate music box that, when opened, emitted a brief gurgling or sucking sound in emulation of a dying individual's death rattle. Another product manufactured in great quantity at the Red Tower was a pocket watch in a gold casing which opened to reveal a curious timepiece whose numerals were represented by tiny quivering insects while the circling 'hands' were reptilian tongues, slender and pink. But these examples hardly begin to hint at the range of goods that came from the factory during its novelty phase of production. I should at least mention the exotic carpets woven with intricate abstract patterns that, when focused upon for a certain length of time, composed themselves into fleeting phantasmagoric scenes of a kind which might pass through a fever-stricken or even permanently damaged brain.”
― Thomas Ligotti, quote from Teatro Grottesco

“All it needed was me, and my fear. Because alone in the silence, in the unfathomable darkness, I knew that my own thoughts would drive me mad. My own mind would kill me.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Solitary

“Bye, Tess. haunt me if you like. I don't mind.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Bevor ich sterbe

“Reality depends on perspective, on what is paid attention to.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Inside the O'Briens

“She is the mystery that is wrapped tightly around the man I am trying so desperately to unravel.”
― Ella Frank, quote from Blind Obsession

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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