“In what language does rain fall over tormented cities?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“With which stars do they go on speaking,the rivers that never reach the sea?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Tell me, is the rose naked
or is that her only dress?
Why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots?
Who hears the regrets
of the thieving automobile?
Is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Donde termina el arco iris,
en tu alma o en el horizonte?
Where does the rainbow end,
in your soul or on the horizon?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Sufre mas el que espera siempre
que aquel que nunca espero a nadie?
Does he who is always waiting suffer more than he who’s never waited for anyone?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“ربما ماتت خجلاً
تلك القطارات التي أضاعت طريقها؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“من هلّلَ لولادة
اللون الأزرق؟
لماذا تحزن الأرض
حينما يظهر البنفسج؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“لماذا لا يدربون المروحيات على جني العسل من الشمس ؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Si todos los rios son dulces
de donde saca sal el mar?
If all rivers are sweet
where does the sea get its salt?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“ما الزهرة التي تطير
من عصفور إلى عصفور؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“لماذا تنتحر الأوراق
عندما تشعر بالإصفرار؟
لماذا تحلّق قبعة الليل
ملأى بالثقوب؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“هل يُحدِّث الدخانُ الغيوم؟
هل صحيح أن رغباتنا
يجب أن تروى بالندى؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Como se reparten el sol en el naranjo las naranjas?
How do the oranges divide up sunlight in the orange tree?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“What will they say about my poetry
who never touched my blood?
Que diran de mi poesia
los que no tocaron mi sangre?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“هل يقاسي
الذي ينتظر دائماً
أكثر من الذي لم يجرب الانتظار ؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“كم عمرُ تشرين الثاني؟
لِم يُنفِق الخريف
كلَّ هذه النقود الصفر؟
ما اسم الكوكتيل الذي
يخلط الفودكا بسهام البرق؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“كيف نالت الدراجة
المهجورة حريتها؟
هل ينفع الملح والسكر
في بناء برج أبيض؟
هل صحيح أنّ الأحلام
في قرية النمل واجب؟
هل تعلم ماذا تتأمّل الأرض في الخريف؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“وعلى من يبتسم الرز
بأسنانه البيض اللامتناهية؟
لماذا يكتبون في العصور المظلمة
بحبرٍ خفي؟
هل يعرف جمال كراكاس
كم تنورةً للوردة؟
لماذا تلسعني البراغيث
ورقباء الأدب؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“كم نحلةً في اليوم؟
هل السلامُ سلامَ الحَمام؟
هل يشنّ النمر حرباً؟
لماذا يُعلّم الأستاذ
جغرافية الموت؟
ماذا يحدث للسنونوات
المتأخرات عن المدرسة؟
وهل صحيح أنّها تنثر
رسائل شفافة على السماء؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“كيف تُفرِّق البرتقالات
أشعة الشمس على الشجرة؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“حُب، حبّه وحبها،
فإذا ذهبا، أين يذهب الحب؟
أمس، بالأمس سألت عيوني،
متى يرى أحدنا الآخر؟
وعندما تغيران المنظر،
فبيدين عاريتين، أم بقفازين؟”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Sufre más el que espera siempre
Que aquel que nunca esperó a nadie?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Dónde van las cosas del sueño?
Se van al sueño de otros?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Como se acuerda con los pajaros
la traduccion de sus idiomas?
How is the translation of their languages
Arranged with the birds?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Hay una estrella mas abierta
que la palabra 'amapola'?
Is there a star more wide open
than the word 'poppy"?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Why wasn't Christopher Columbus able to discover Spain?”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“Here is the solitude from which you are absent.
It is raining. The sea wind is hunting stray gulls.
The water walks barefoot in the wet streets. From that tree the leaves complain as though they were sick.
White bee, even when you are gone, you live in my soul. You live again in time, slender and silent.
Ah, you who are silent.”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Book of Questions
“We learn much by tribulation, and by adversity our hearts are made better.”
― David McCullough, quote from The Wright Brothers
“It isn’t really possible for men to understand how much the world doesn’t want women to be complete people. The most important thing a woman can be, in our society—more important, even, than honest or decent—is identifiable. Even when Libby’s evil—perhaps most of all when she’s evil—she’s easy to categorize, to stick to a board with a pin like some scientific specimen. Those men in Stillwater are terrified of her because being terrified lets them know who she is—it keeps them safe. Imagine how much harder it would be to say, yes, she’s a woman capable of terrible anger and violence, but she’s also someone who’s tried desperately to be a nurturer, to be a good and constructive human being. If you accept all that, if you allow that inside she’s not just one or the other, but both, what does that say about all the other women in town? How will you ever be able to tell what’s actually going on in their hearts—and heads? Life in the simple village would suddenly become immensely complicated. And so, to keep that from happening, they separate things. The normal, ordinary woman is defined as nurturing and loving, docile and compliant. Any female who defies that categorization must be so completely evil that she’s got to be feared, feared even more than the average criminal—she’s got to be invested with the powers of the Devil himself. A witch, they probably would have called her in the old days. Because she’s not just breaking the law, she’s defying the order of things.”
― Caleb Carr, quote from The Angel of Darkness
“Honor was never taking the easy way when it was also the wrong one. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself. Protecting the weak and helpless; standing fast even when fear made you weak. Keeping your word.”
― Mercedes Lackey, quote from Exile's Honor
“Personally, I don’t think it right to make up things about real people—although I suppose there’s an argument for saying that once you’re dead you’re not real any more. But then we have to define what we mean by real and none of us wants to go down that tortuous path because we all know where it leads (madness or a first-class honours, or both).”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Emotionally Weird
“The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there.
People will follow.”
― Seth Godin, quote from Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
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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