“Banyak hal dengan mudah terlupakan, seperti kita sama sekali lupa kenapa kita tidak bisa mengingatnya lagi. Sesuatu bisa begitu saja hilang dari ingatan, seperti arwah, seperti mimpi. Kita cuma bisa merasakan jejaknya pada diri kita tanpa bisa mengenalinya lagi. Kita tinggal benci, kita tinggal marah, tinggal takut, tinggal cinta. Kita tak tahu kenapa.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Dunia ini penuh dengan orang jahat yang tidak dihukum. Mereka berkeliaran. Sebagian karena tidak tertangkap, sebagian lagi memang dilindungi, tak tersentuh hukum, atau aparat.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Tapi mencari suami memang seperti melihat toko perabot untuk setelan meja makan yang pas buat ruangan dan keuangan. Kita datang dengan sejumlah syarat geometri dan bujet. Sedangkan kekasih muncul seperti sebuah lukisan yang tiba-tiba membuat kita jatuh hati. Kita ingin mendapatkannya, dan mengubah seluruh desain kamar agar turut padanya. Laila selalu jatuh cinta pada lukisan, bukan meja makan.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Tak pernah ada yang salah dengan cinta. Ia mengisi sesuatu yang tidak kosong. Tapi yang terjadi di sini adalah asmara, yang mengosongkan sesuatu yang semula ceper. Dengan rindu. Belum tentu nafsu.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Tapi semua itu saya kira hanya bisa kita pakai untuk mengenali cintakasih. Jika kita menggunakannya sebagai pedoman, maka yang terjadi adalah sebuah hukum baru yang datang dari luar tubuh manusia, yang tidak dialami melainkan diterapkan. Kesucian, bahkan kesederhanaan, yang dipaksakan sering kali malah menghasilkan inkuisitor yang menindas dan meninggalkan sejarah hitam. Karena itu saya percaya bahwa Tuhan tidak bekerja dengan memberi kita loh batu berisi ide-ide tentang dirinya dan manusia. Tuhan bekerja dengan memberi kita kapasitas untuk mencintai, dan itu menjadi tenaga yang kreatif dari dalam diri kita.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Dan Timur dan Barat pastilah konsep yang amat ganjil, sebab kita berbicara tentang kesopanan sambil telanjang.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Namun, kasih adalah suatu pengalaman yang tidak bisa diringkus dalam kata-kata. Ia tidak tercakup dalam penjelasan apapun. Juga penjelasan saya. Bahkan Paulus hanya berhasil menutur ciri-cirinya. Tapi semua itu saya kira hanya bisa kita pakai untuk mengenal cintakasih. Jika kita menggunakannya sebagai pedoman, maka yang terjadi adalah sebuah hukum baru yang datang dari luar tubuh manusia, yang tidak dialami melainkan diterapkan. Kesucian, bahkan kesederhanaan, yang dipaksakan seringkali malah menghasilkan inkuisitor yang menindas dan meninggalkan sejarah hitam. Karena itu saya percaya bahwa Tuhan tidak bekerja dengan memberi kita loh batu berisi ide-ide tentang dirinya dan manusia. Tuhan bekerja dengan memberi kita kapasitas untuk mencintai, dan itu menjadi tenaga yang kreatif dari dalam diri kita.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Waktu adalah hal yang aneh sekali. Bagaimana dia bisa memisahkan kita dari kita di masa lalu?”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Banyak orang jahat di dunia ini, tapi juga selalu banyak orang baik yang memperhatikan aku di sekelilingku.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
“Orang-orang berbicara tentang segala yang tumbuh, yang ditanam maupun liar, seolah mengenal mereka lebih daripada pokok-pokok itu sendiri mengenal dingin dan matahari, ataupun hangat bumi. Namun binatang tidak menghafal pohon-pohon karena namanya, seperti seekor induk atau sepasang tidak mengenal tetasannya atau susuannya dengan nama. Mereka mengenal tanpa batas.”
― Ayu Utami, quote from Saman
Ayu Utami
Born place: in Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Born date November 21, 1968
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“I do love my family, but I really just go for the food.”
― Julia Quinn, quote from Romancing Mister Bridgerton
“She felt some measure of relief knowing that in the very least, on the open road she would have some time to think.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“You call forth the world which God has formed and that world only. Nor is this life of yours by which you set such store your doing, however you may choose to tell it. Its shape was forced in the void at the onset and all talk of what might otherwise have been is senseless for there is no otherwise. Of what could it be made? Where be hid? Or how make its appearance? The probability fo the actual is absolute. That we have no power to guess it out beforehand makes it no less certain. That we may imagine alternate histories means nothing at all.”
― Cormac McCarthy, quote from Cities of the Plain
“But… all I said was that I was scared."
After what you got to experience? That's smart, kid," I said. "I'm scared, too. Every time something like this happens, it scares me. But being strong doesn't get you through. Being smart does. I've beaten people and things who were stronger than I was, because they didn't use their heads, or because I used what I had better than they did. It isn't about muscle, kiddo, magical or otherwise. It's about your attitude. About your mind."
She nodded slowly and said, "About doing things for the right reasons."
You don't throw down like this just because you're strong enough to do it," I said. "You do it because you don't have much choice. You do it because it's unacceptable to walk away, and still live with yourself later."
She stared at me for a second, and then her eyes widened. "Otherwise, you're using power for the sake of using power."
I nodded. "And power tends to corrupt. It isn't hard to love using it, Molly. You've got to go in with the right attitude or…"
Or the power starts using you," she said. She'd heard the argument before, but this was the first time she said the words slowly, thoughtfully, as if she'd actually understood them, instead of just parroting them back to me. Then she looked up. "That's why you do it. Why you help people. You're using the power for someone other than yourself.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from White Night
“Don’t do that. Stay away.” She was on the edge of fear. “Was he stronger?” “No. He was softer. His hands were soft. And when I relaxed, he relaxed. That’s when I stamped on his instep.” “Where’d you learn that?” “From my ex-husband’s father. He taught me some self-defense things.” “Come here.” “No.”
― John Sandford, quote from Rules of Prey
The Iron Butterfly
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DevouredBookQuoters 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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