“I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us.”
“The diabolical thing about melancholy is not that it makes you ill but that it makes you conceited and shortsighted; yes almost arrogant. You lapse into bad taste, thinking of yourself as Heine's Atlas, whose shoulders support all the world's puzzles and agonies, as if thousands, lost in the same maze, did not endure the same agonies.”
“الألم وألوان الخيبة والكآبة لا توجد لتحزننا ولتجردنا من القيمة والكرامة، وإنما وجدت لتزيدنا نضجاً وصفاءً”
“That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!”
“لم يوجد الحب ليجعلنا سعداء، بل أنا أعتقد أن الحب وجد ليبين لنا مدى قوتنا على المعاناة والاحتمال”
“I would lie for hours by the window gazing down upon the black lake and up at the mountains silhouetted against the wan sky, with stars suspended above. Then a fearfully sweet, overpowering emotion would take hold of me—as though all the nighttime beauty looked at me accusingly, stars and mountain and lake longing for someone who understood the beauty and agony of their mute existence, who could express it for them, as though I were the one meant to do this and as though my true calling were to give expression to inarticulate nature in poems.”
“I began to sense that I would be a stranger in society for the rest of my life, and the desire was born in me to lead my life outside this society.”
“لم أكن أحسب نفسي أديباً شاعراً. فما كنت أكتبه من حين إلى آخر كان من قبيل الصحافة المسلية، لا من الأدب. لكني كنت فيما بيني وبين نفسي أحبس أملاً في أن تتاح لي في يوم من الأيام فرصة خلق شيء من الأدب، نشيد عظيم جرئ للحنين والحياة”
“It enraged and exhausted me to observe how the common daily life callously demanded its due and devoured the abundance of optimism I had brought with me.”
“I wanted … people to listen to the pulse of nature, to partake of the wholeness of life and not forget, under the pressure of their petty destinies, that we are not gods and have not created ourselves but are the children of the earth, part of the cosmos.”
“لا يوجد في الدنيا شيء أشد فشلاً من أن يفكر الإنسان في أمر إنسان يحبه. تلك أفكار تشبه بعض الإاني الشعبية والعسكرية التي تعدد آلاف الأشياء”
“مي خواستم به مردم بياموزم كه به نبض طبيعت گوش فرا بدهند، در كليت و پهنه زندگي فعالانه شركت جويند و، تحت فشار ناشي از زندگي حقيرشان، از ياد نبرند كه ما خداوندان اساطيري نيستيم و ما خودمان را نيافريده ايم، بلكه كودكان زمين هستيم و پاره اي از جهان هستي.”
“You poets are accustomed to finding words for everything beautiful and you don’t even grant that people have hearts if they are less talkative about their feelings than you.”
“how easy human frailties could thrive under the cover of idealism”
“O alegre e claro espelho de minha alma era muitas vezes embaçado por uma espécie de melancolia mas, por ora, não havia sido seriamente danificado. Ela aparecia de tempos em tempos, durante um dia ou uma noite, como uma tristeza sonhadora e solitária; desaparecia depois sem deixar traços, voltando após algumas semanas ou meses. Aos poucos fui me habituando a ela, como a uma amiga e confidente, não a recebendo como um tormento, mas como um cansaço inquieto, que não deixava de ter seu encanto. Quando ela me surpreendia de noite eu ficava, em vez de dormir, horas inteiras à janela, olhava o lago mergulhado na escuridão, as silhuetas das montanhas desenhadas no palor do céu e bem no alto, as belas estrelas. Então apossava-se de mim com frequência um sentimento doce e vigoroso, como se eu fosse contemplado por toda aquela formosura da noite, com uma justa censura. Como se estrelas, montanhas e lagos aspirassem por alguém que compreendesse sua beleza e o sofrimento da sua natureza calada e a expressasse, como se eu fosse aquele ser e como se fosse essa a minha verdadeira missão. a de dar, em poesias, uma expressão à natureza muda. De que maneira isso seria possível não sei, jamais pensei nisso, apenas sentia que a bela e severa noite esperava por mim, impaciente, numa ânsia silente. (p. 42)”
“It seems to have been my bad luck always to receive more than I could return, from life and friends.”
“the old buzzard told me his life's story. I only remember that it was interesting and unusual; I've forgotten all the details.”
“Viele sagen, sie "lieben die Natur". Das heißt, sie sind nicht abgeneigt, je und je ihre dargebotenen Reize sich gefallen zu lassen.
Sie gehen hinaus und freuen sich über die Schönheit der Erde, zertreten die Wiesen und reißen schließlich eine Menge Blumen und Zweige ab, um sie bald wieder wegzuwerfen oder daheim verwelken zu lassen. So lieben sie die Natur.”
“everything I had so far experienced was mere chance […] my life still lacked a deep individual meaning of its own”
“E eu via prados e declives, gretas de penhascos cobertas de grama, flores, fetos e musgos, aos quais a velha voz popular dera nomes tão singulares e tão cheios de significações. Viviam, filhos e netos que são das montanhas, coloridos e inofensivos, ali mesmo nos seus postos. Eu os apalpava, contemplava-os, aspirava-lhes o perfume e aprendia seus nomes. Impressionava-me ainda mais séria e profundamente com a contemplação das árvores. Via cada uma delas levando sua vida à parte, aperfeiçoando sua forma e coroa especiais, projetando sua sombra peculiar. A mim me pareciam ermitãs e lutadoras, mais estreitamente aparentadas com as montanhas, pois cada uma delas, sobretudo as que se erguiam nos pontos mais altos das montanhas, mantinham sua luta silenciosa e tenaz pela existência e desenvolvimento, contra o vento, o tempo e as rochas. Cada qual tinha que suportar seu próprio peso e se agarrar com força ao solo, resultando daí que cada uma possuía uma forma particular e chagas especiais. Havia pinheiros aos quais as tormentas só permitiam que apresentassem galhos de um só lado, e outros cujos troncos avermelhados se haviam enroscado, quais serpentes, ao redor de rochas, de tal maneira que árvores e rochas se agarravam umas às outras para se sustentarem. A mim elas se assemelhavam a guerreiros e despertavam no meu coração um sentimento de medo e de respeito. (p. 8)”
“Vis dėlto stebėti debesis ir bangas buvo kur kas maloniau nei žmones. Su nuostaba pamačiau, kad žmogus nuo gamtos skiriasi daugiausia tais slidžiais melo drebučiais, jį supančiais ir saugančiais. Greitai įsitikinau, kad visiems mano pažįstamiems būdingas tas pats bruožas, tas aplinkybių diktatas, kai kiekvienas iš jų turi vaizduoti tam tikrą asmenybę, ryškią figūrą, o nė vienas iš jų nepripažįsta pats savęs. Keistai pasijutau, pamatęs, kad ir aš pats esu toks, ir nustojau ieškojęs asmenybės esmės. Daugeliui tie drebučiai buvo svarbiau už viską. Aš tai mačiau visur, net ir vaikai, sąmoningai ar nesąmoningai, vaidino kokį nors vaidmenį, užuot instinktyviai ir nesislapstydami atskleidę patys save.”
“Bei diesem unbedachten Wort sah ich plötzlich den armen Lahmen vor mir, flehend und leidend, ihn, den wir nicht liebten, den wir loszuwerden trachteten und
der jetzt von uns verlassen und eingeschlossen einsam und traurig in der dämmernden Stube saß. Es fiel mir ein, daß es nun bald zu dunkeln beginnen müsse
und daß er nicht im stande sein würde, Licht zu machen oder dem Fenster näher
zu rücken. Also würde er das Buch weglegen und im Halbdunkel allein sitzen müssen, ohne Gespräch oder Zeitvertreib, indes wir hier Wein tranken, lachten und uns
vergnügten. Und es fiel mir ein, wie ich den Nachbarn in Assisi vom heiligen Franz
erzählt hatte und wie ich geflunkert hatte, er hätte mich gelehrt alle Menschen liebzuhaben. Wozu hatte ich das Leben des Heiligen studiert und seinen herrlichen
Gesang der Liebe auswendig gelernt und seine Spuren auf den umbrischen Hügeln
gesucht, wenn nun ein armer und hülfloser Mensch dalag und leiden mußte, während ich davon wußte und ihn trösten konnte?”
“El sufrimiento, el desencanto y la melancolía existen no para irritarnos o para despojarnos de nuestra dignidad, sino para madurarnos y transfigurarnos.”
“I almost forget that she still hates me, despite how hard I've fallen for her.
And I've fallen.
So hard.
I've hit the ground.”
“Possibly, she thought, the pool of answers was limited. There are fewer answers in the world than questions, and if you ask me now why that is so, I must tell you that there is no answer to that question.”
“Little kids, little problems. Wait till you’ve got drugs and sex and social media to worry about.”
“Ove had never been asked how he lived before he met her. But if anyone had asked him, he would have answered that he didn’t.”
“According to most writers, groups of souls tend to reincarnate together again and again, working out their karma (debts owed to others and to the self, lessons to be learned) over the span of many lifetimes. In”
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