“Books only change the world if the world is capable of digesting them.”
“...having already understood everything that you will understand henceforward and until the end of your days." -Q”
“Le botteghe degli stampatori mi hanno sempre attirato. I libri hanno un fascino particolare.”
“When a faith stubbornly maintained comes into contact with learning, the product of that encounter is always something magnificent, whether it be for good or ill.”
“I smile. No plan can take everything into account. Other people will raise their heads, others will desert. Time will go on spreading victory and defeat among those who pursue the struggle.
I sip with satisfaction. We deserve the warmth of baths. May the days be aimless.
Do not advance the action according to a plan.”
“No one imagines keeping the powerful low for long, apart from anything because if the peasants governed and the lords worked the land, everyone would quickly die of hunger, because everyone gets the hands they deserve.”
“Io faccio il mio mestiere, capito? Io sono un libraio, vado in giro, vedo un sacco di gente, vendo i libri, scopro talenti nascosti sotto le montagne di carta… io propago idee. Il mio mestiere è il più rischioso del mondo, capito? Sono responsabile della diffusione dei pensieri, magari di quelli più scomodi.”
“Margharete von Osnabrück […] ha sputato in faccia ai predicatori e pisciato in testa a quelli che andavano a prenderla. Sapeva quello che l’aspettava, ma non ha voluto tacere. Ha urlato a tutta la città, mentre la trascinavano via, che le donne di Münster non hanno combattuto al fianco dei loro uomini per diventare volgari concubine. […]
è morta uccidendoli con le parole. L’hanno seguita in tante, hanno preferito morire insultando i tiranni piuttosto che accettare le loro leggi.”
“Ursula is something I will never feel again: she is Melancholy, cut into the soul and flesh.”
“You're wrong Heinrich. While it might seem easy to believe, you and I aren't actually the same. You've been fighting someone else's war, you've been obeying orders, you've been carrying out a part in his plan. You've served other people all your life, for a goal that you won't even see accomplished: that's your defeat.”
“La memoria. Sacca piena di cianfrusaglie che rotolano fuori per caso e finiscono col meravigliarti, come se non fossi stato tu a raccoglierle, a trasformarle in oggetti preziosi.”
“Vedi? Il denaro non lo puoi rovesciare: comunque lo giri ti mostra sempre una faccia.”
“I ONCE READ somewhere that the odds of getting hit by lightning are one in a million. One in a friggin’ million. So, if this situation were to be viewed optimistically, I’m a pretty unique individual. But here’s the thing—I just got hit by lighting on my birthday, so optimism can go kiss pessimism’s”
“To be successful as a living thing, you have to have offspring, who have offspring, who have offspring. Rest assured, your family did, or you wouldn’t be here. As troubling as it may seem, your parents had sex—at least once. If you have brothers and sisters, more than once … One shudders to think of it.”
“Love was merely a tool, smiles were another tool, they were both just tools for accomplishing certain ends. No magic, merely chemicals. I felt I'd never really loved anyone, not Paul, not Chuck the Royal Porcupine, not even Arthur. I'd polished them with my love and expected them to shine, brightly enough to return my own reflection, enhanced and sparkling.”
“يستحيل أن نُقطّع أيَّ حيوان كان أو نقتُله دون أن يتألّم.”
“Amore non è amore
Se muta quando scopre un mutamento
O tende a svanire quando l‘altro s‘allontana.
Oh no! Amore è un faro sempre fisso
Che sovrasta la tempesta e non vacilla mai;
È la stella che guida di ogni barca,
Il cui valore è sconosciuto, benché nota la distanza.
Amore non è soggetto al Tempo, pur se rosee labbra
E gote dovran cadere sotto la sua curva lama;
Amore non muta in poche ore o settimane,
Ma impavido resiste al giorno estremo del giudizio;
Se questo è un errore e mi sarà provato,
Io non ho mai scritto, e nessuno ha mai amato.”
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.
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