Quotes from Quo Vadis

“But I think happiness springs from another source, a far deeper one that doesn't depend on will because it comes from love.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“I know, 0 Caesar, that thou art awaiting my arrival with impatience, that thy true heart of a friend is yearning day and night for me. I know that thou art ready to cover me with gifts, make me prefect of the pretorian guards, and command Tigellinus to be that which the gods made him, a mule-driver in those lands which thou didst inherit after poisoning Domitius. Pardon me, however, for I swear to thee by Hades, and by the shades of thy mother, thy wife, thy brother, and Seneca, that I cannot go to thee. Life is a great treasure. I have taken the most precious jewels from that treasure, but in life there are many things which I cannot endure any longer. Do not suppose, I pray, that I am offended because thou didst kill thy mother, thy wife, and thy brother; that thou didst burn Eome and send to Erebus all the honest men in thy dominions. No, grandson of Chronos. Death is the inheritance of man; from thee other deeds could not have been expected. But to destroy one's ear for whole years with thy poetry, to see thy belly of a Domitius on slim legs whirled about in a Pyrrhic dance; to hear thy music, thy declamation, thy doggerel verses, wretched poet of the suburbs, — is a thing surpassing my power, and it has roused in me the wish to die. Eome stuffs its ears when it hears thee; the world reviles thee. I can blush for thee no longer, and I have no wish to do so. The howls of Cerberus, though resembling thy music, will be less offensive to me, for I have never been the friend of Cerberus, and I need not be ashamed of his howling. Farewell, but make no music; commit murder, but write no verses; poison people, but dance not; be an incendiary, but play not on a cithara. This is the wish and the last friendly counsel sent thee by the — Arbiter Elegantiae.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“-Моето щастие мина, и радостта ми отмина, но аз не съм зла.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“Why does crime, even when as powerful as Cæsar, and assured of being beyond punishment, strive always for the appearances of truth, justice, and virtue? Why does it take the trouble?”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“На този свят е по-лесно да намериш философ, отколкото добър съвет”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“Светът е измамен, а животът е илюзия. Трябва да имаш достатъчно ум за да различиш приятните от лошите илюзии.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“¿Es ésta la nueva doctrina desconocida? Todo el mundo sabe eso: todo el mundo lo ha escuchado antes. Los cínicos han recomendado la pobreza y la restricción de las necesidades; Sócrates ha prescrito la virtud como una cosa antigua buena; el primer estoico a quien uno encuentra, si bien sea el propio Séneca -que tiene quinientas mesas de madera de limonero-, ensalza la continencia, recomienda la verdad, la paciencia en la adversidades, la fortaleza en el infortunio; y todo eso es como el trigo viejo, que se comen los ratones, pero que la gente rechaza porque huele mal.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“-¡Qué sociedad!
-A tal sociedad, tal César.[...]”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“More than once have I thought, Why does crime, even when as powerful as Cæsar, and assured of being beyond punishment, strive always for the appearances of truth, justice, and virtue? Why does it take the trouble? I consider that to murder a brother, a mother, a wife, is a thing worthy of some petty Asiatic king, not a Roman Cæsar; but if that position were mine, I should not write justifying letters to the Senate. But Nero writes. Nero is looking for appearances, for Nero is a coward. But Tiberius was not a coward; still he justified every step he took. Why is this? What a marvellous, involuntary homage paid to virtue by evil! And knowest thou what strikes me? This, that it is done because transgression is ugly and virtue is beautiful. Therefore a man of genuine æsthetic feeling is also a virtuous man. Hence I am virtuous.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“It seemed that out of every tear of a martyr new confessors were born, and that every groan on the arena found an echo in thousands of breasts. Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.

But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one, -- happiness and love.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“mandassero con lei il suo seguito, il”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“Youth is the one worthwhile treasure in this world, no matter how miserable the rest of life might be.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“»Roma se tapa los oídos cuando te oye; y el mundo se ríe de ti.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

“If we repay evil with good, then how do we repay the good?”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Quo Vadis

About the author

Popular quotes

“Bucket had started his criminal career in Braas, not far from when Allan and his new friends now found themselves. There he had gotten together with some like-minded peers and started the motorcycle club called The Violence. Bucket was the leader; he decided which newsstand was to be robbed of cigarettes next. He was the one who has chosen the name- The Violence, in English, not swedish. And he was the one who unfortunately asked his girlfriend Isabella to sew the name of the motorcycle club onto ten newly stolen leather jackets. Isabella had never really learned to spell properly at school, not in Swedish, and certainly not in English.

The result was that Isabella sewed The Violins on the jackets instead. As the rest of the club members had had similar academic success, nobody in the group noticed the mistake.
So everyone was very surprised when one day a letter arrived for The Violins in Braas from the people in charge of the concert hall in Vaxjo. The letter suggested that, since the club obviously concerned itself with classical music, they might like to put in am appearance at a concert with the city’s prestigious chamber orchestra, Musica Viate.

Bucket felt provoked; somebody was clearly making fun of him. One night he skipped the newsstand, and instead went into Vaxjo to throw a brick through the glass door of the concert hall. This was intended to teach the people responsible lesson in respect. It all went well, except that Bucket’s leather glove happened to follow the stone into the lobby. Since the alarm went off immediately, Bucket felt it would be unwise to try to retrieve the personal item in question.

Losing the glove was not good. Bucket had traveled to Vaxjo by motorbike and one hand was extremely cold all the way home to Braas that night. Even worse was the fact that Bucket’s luckless girlfriend had written Bucket’s name and adress inside the glove, in case he lost it."
For more quotes from the novel visit my blog: frommybooks.wordpress.com”
― Jonas Jonasson, quote from The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

“Worst is the one who knows better and does nothing.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from Monsters of Men

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them.

And its snap split the world in two.”
― Laini Taylor, quote from Days of Blood & Starlight

“the only way to truly be safer, was to accept the dark”
― C.J. Roberts, quote from Captive in the Dark

“And without forgiveness, there is never any peace.”
― Rachel Caine, quote from Lord of Misrule

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