“La historia no se hace con grandes sueños sino con las insignificantes necesidades de todas las gentes honradas, moderadamente maliciosas y que se buscan a sí mismas.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“It's astonishing what a number of churches and idiots there are in the world.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“Nobody can hate man more than man.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“But old Rossum meant it literally.
He wanted to become a sort of scientific substitute for God. He was a fearful materialist, and that's why he did it all. His sole purpose was nothing more nor less than to prove that God was no longer necessary.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“Dr Gall: Hoši, je to zločin staré Evropy, že naučila Roboty válčit! Nemohli už dát, u čerta, pokoj s tou svou politikou? To byl zločin, udělat z živé práce vojáky!
Alquist: Zločin byl vyrábět Roboty!
Domin: Cože?
Alquist: Zločin byl vyrábět Roboty!
Domin: Ne. Alquiste, ani dnes toho nelituju.
Alquist: Ani dnes?
Domin: Ani dnes, v poslední den civilizace. Byla to veliká věc.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“but within the next ten years Rossum’s Universal Robots will produce so much wheat, so much cloth, so much everything that things will no longer have any value. Everyone will be able to take as much as he needs. There’ll be no more poverty. Yes, people will be out of work, but by then there’ll be no work left to be done. Everything will be done by living machines. People will do only what they enjoy. They will live only to perfect themselves.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“nothing is stranger to man than his own image”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
“Helena: Will they be happier when they can feel pain?
Dr. Gall: On the contrary. But they will be technically more perfect.”
― Karel Čapek, quote from R.U.R.
Karel Čapek
Born place: in Malé Svatoňovice, Czech Republic
Born date January 9, 1890
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“She's also ruthless - it's love me or off with your head. She's the Red Queen”
― Don Winslow, quote from Savages
“They'd had to empty their pockets and turn over Aunt Val's purse to the security guard. That way, I wouldn't be tempted to try to kill anyone with her lip gloss and her travel-size pack of tissues.”
― Rachel Vincent, quote from My Soul to Lose
“Geissler har vel ingen interesse for svaret og har kanske ikke hørt det, han vedblir: Kjøpe stenene tilbake altså. Siste gang lot jeg min søn sælge, det er en ung mand på din alder og ellers intet. Han er lynet i familjen, jeg er tåken. Jeg er av dem som vet det rette, men gjør det ikke. Men han er lynet, for tiden har han stillet sig i industriens tjeneste. Han var den som solgte for mig sist. Jeg er noget, det er ikke han, han er bare lynet, det snare nutidsmenneske. Men lynet som lyn er goldt. Ta dere Sellanråfolk: dere ser hver dag på nogen blå fjæld, det er ikke opfundne tingester, det er gamle fjæld, de står dypt nedsunkne i fortid; men dere har dem til kamerater. Dere går der sammen med himlen og jorden og er ett med dem, er ett med dette vide og rotfæstede. Dere behøver ikke sværd i hånden, dere går livet barhændt og barhodet midt i en stor venlighet. Se, der ligger naturen, den er din og dines! Mennesket og naturen bombarderer ikke hverandre, de gir hverandre ret, de konkurrerer ikke, kapløper ikke efter noget, de følges ad. Midt i dette går dere Sellanråfolk og er til. Fjældene, skogen, myrene, engene, himlen og stjærnerne – å det er ikke fattig og tilmålt, det er uten måte. Hør på mig, Sivert: Vær tilfreds! Dere har alt å leve av, alt å leve for, alt å tro på, dere fødes og frembringer, dere er de nødvendige på jorden. Det er ikke alle som er det, men dere er det: nødvendige på jorden. Dere opholder livet. Fra slægt til slægt er det til i lutter avl, og når dere dør tar den nye avl fat. Det er dette som menes med det evige liv. Hvad har dere igjen for det? En tilværelse i ret og magt, en tilværelse i troskyldig og rigtig stilling til alt. Hvad dere har igjen for det? Intet horser og regjerer dere Sellanråfolk, dere har ro og autoritet, dere er omsluttet av den store venlighet. Det har dere igjen for det. Dere ligger ved en barm og leker med en varm morshånd og patter. Jeg tænker på din far, han er en av de 32 tusen. Hvad er mangen anden? Jeg er noget, jeg er tåken, jeg er her og der, jeg svømmer, stundom er jeg regn på et tørt sted. Men de andre? Min søn er lynet som intet er, han er det golde blink, han kan handle. Min søn han er vor tids type, han tror oprigtig på det tiden har lært ham, på det jøden og yankee'en har lært ham; jeg ryster på hodet til det. Men jeg er ikke noget mystisk, det er bare i min familje jeg er tåken. Der sitter jeg og ryster på hodet. Saken er: jeg mangler ævnen til den angerløse adfærd. Hadde jeg den ævne så kunde jeg være lyn selv. Nu er jeg tåken.”
― Knut Hamsun, quote from Growth of the Soil
“VI. FINAL WARNING There are monsters in these pages, but as Ogden Nash pointed out in my first short-story collection, Smoke and Mirrors, where there’s a monster, there’s also a miracle. There are some long stories and some short ones. There are a handful of poems, which perhaps might need their own warning for the people who are frightened, disturbed, or terminally puzzled by poetry. (In my second short-story collection, Fragile Things, I tried to explain that the poems come free. They are bonuses for the kind of people who do not need to worry about sneaky and occasional poems lurking inside their short-story collections.) There. Consider yourself warned. There are so many little triggers out there, being squeezed in the darkness even as I write this. This book is correctly labeled. Now all we have to worry about is all the other books, and, of course, life, which is huge and complicated and will not warn you before it hurts you. Thank you for coming. Enjoy the things that never happened. Secure your own mask again after you read these stories, but do not forget to help others.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances
“It really is a very odd business that all of us, to varying degrees, have music in our heads.”
― Oliver Sacks, quote from Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
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