Quotes from The Golem

“It is the narrow, hidden tracks that lead back to our lost homeland, what contains the solution to the last mysteries is not the ugly scar that life's rasp leaves on us, but the fine, almost invisible writing that is engraved on our body.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“I have not let myself be stultified by science, whose highest goal is to furnish a `waiting room', which it would be best to tear down.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“The soul is not a single unity; that is what it is destined to become, and that is what we call 'immortality'. Your soul is still composed of many 'selves', just as a colony of ants is composed of many single ants. You bear within you the spiritual remains of many thousand ancestors, the heads of your line. It is the same with all creatures. How could a chicken that is artificially hatched in an incubator immediately look for the right food, if the experience of millions of years were not stored inside it? The existence of 'instinct' indicates the presence of our ancestors in our bodies and in our souls.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“A brief rustling that broke off short, as if startled at itself, then deadly silence, that agonising, watchful hush, fraught with its own betrayal, that stretched each minute to an excruciating eternity.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Разве не может быть, что невидимый, непостижимый «ветер» бросает и нас то туда, то сюда, определяя наши поступки, тогда как мы, в нашем простодушии, полагаем, что мы действуем по своей свободной воле? Что если жизнь в нас не что иное, как таинственный вихрь?!”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Сильные обходятся без религии - они идут свободно и посох им уже не нужен; тем, для кого все на свете сводится лишь к пище и питью, религия тоже ни к чему - они еще не испытывают в ней нужды. Зачем посох, если ты никуда не идешь, а только топчешься на месте?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Воистину, труднее смертному вечную улыбку обрящить, нежели, перерыв несметное множество могил, сыскать череп, коий носил на плечах в своей прежней жизни..”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Душа не есть нечто «отдельное», она этим только еще должна стать – и это тогда называется «бессмертием». Ваша душа еще составлена из многочисленных «я» – как муравейник из многих муравьев; вы носите в себе психические остатки многих тысяч предков: глав вашего рода.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Но моя воля разбилась о железный закон: одну мысль я мог прогнать только посредством другой, умирала одна, ее трупом питалась следующая.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Потоки воды стекали с крыш и бежали по лицам домов, как ручьи слез.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Книга говорила мне, как говорит сновидение, только яснее и значительно отчетливее. Она шевелилась в моем сердце, как вопрос. Слова струились из невидимых уст, оживали и подходили ко мне. Они кружились и вихрились вокруг меня как пестро одетые рабыни, уходили потом в землю или расплывались клубами дыма в воздухе, давая место следующим. Каждая надеялась, что я изберу ее и не посмотрю на следующую.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“De pronto comprendí en lo más profundo de su ser a esas criaturas misteriosas que viven a mi alrededor: Se mueven sin voluntad por su existencia, agitadas por una corriente magnética invisible igual que hace un momento flotaba el ramo de novia, arrastrado por el arroyo de mugre.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“¿No es posible que haya un "viento" incomprensible e invisible que nos llevara de un lado para otro, y determinara nuestras acciones, mientras que nosotros, en nuestra simpleza, creemos vivir bajo nuestra propia y libre voluntad?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“La vida ya es demasiado triste como para amargarla además con odio.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“[...] verzeihen Sie, daß ich so furchtbar gescheit daherrede, aber wenn man an der Universität ist, kommt einem eine Menge vertrottelter Bücher unter die Hände; unwillkürlich verfällt man dann in eine deppenhafte Ausdrucksweise.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Шар может лишь катиться, кубик - кувыркаться, почему бы, следуя тем же, тысячекратно более сложным, законам предопределения, не рассчитать жизненную траекторию такого тысячекратно более сложного объекта, как homo sapiens?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Omul e ca o țeavă de sticlă prin care alunecă rotonduri colorate: la cei mai mulți, unul într-o viață. Dacă e roșu, se zice că omul e rău. Dacă e galben, omul e bun. Dacă sînt două, unul după altul - unul roșu, celălalt galben, - atunci se zice că e vorba de un caracter instabil. Noi, mușcații de șarpe, străbatem într-o singură viață, drumul pe care altminteri o specie întreagă de oameni îl urcă de-a lungul vârstei unei lumi: bilele colorate gonesc în șir de-a lungul țevii de sticlă, și când s-au sfârșit - sîntem profeți, oglinzi ale dumnezeirii.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“...un om intrat sub stăpânirea propriului său suflet; și-l ducea prin locurile sălbatece ale vieții, în abisuri și-n ascuțișul sâncilor, sus, spre culmile ninse ale unei lumi neumblate.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Nu, nu mă mai las batjocorit, nu mai vreau să fiu jucăria unei soarte incerte, fără nici o țintă, care mă înalță și mă împinge iară în mocirlă, nu cumva să nu înțeleg deșertăciunea a tot ce-i pământesc. Ca și cum n-o știam demult - orice copil o știe, până și câinele de pe stradă!”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“- С тех пор как Луна, бледная странница, кружит по небосклону, - продолжал иудей, - пребываю я в мире сем. Мне суждено было узреть первых людишек - подобные обезьянам, они приходили из древа и уходили во древо, из колыбели во гроб. И по сей день люди как обезьяны, и в руках у них по-прежнему топор. потухший взор их обращен вниз, в бесконечность, коя сокрыта в малом, - там, в непроглядной бездне, тщатся они дно обрящить. Итак, познали они, что в чреве самого ничтожного червя обитают миллионы крошечных существ, а в тех в свой черед - миллиарды еще более крошечных, однако всё еще невдомек пытливым исследователям, что эдак им конца во веки веком не сыскать. И хотя взору моему отверсты обе бездны, и верхняя и нижняя, да и слезы свои я давным-давно повыплакал, но, все едино, смеяться так и не научился...”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Призраки, гигантские, бесформенные, свидетельствующие о себе разве что смертью, голодом и разрухой - невидимые участники тайных заседаний, алчной сворой теснящиеся вокруг крытых зеленым сукном столов, за которыми циничные честолюбивые старцы решают судьбы мира, они собрали свой страшный многомиллионный урожай и до поры до времени впали в спячку; но сейчас проснулся самый страшный из всех фантомов - уже давно тлетворный дух загнивающей культуры щекотал его ноздри, - и поднял из бездны личину Медузы, и рассмеялся в лицо одураченному человечеству, ибо то, что люди принимали за прогресс, ради чего мучились, страдали и приносили неисчислимые жертвы, оказалось огромным пыточным колесом, которое эти слепцы вращали в безумной надежде снискать для грядущих поколений свободу и которое они теперь, несмотря на все свои "знания", на веки вечные обречены приводить в движение.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Stavo pensando", disse Prokop come se volesse farsi perdonare il suo silenzio, "com'è strano quando il vento gioca con gli oggetti inanimati. E' quasi miracoloso il modo in cui cose che giacciono in giro senza un briciolo di vita improvvisamente cominciano a svolazzare. Non ve ne siete accorti? Una volta stavo in una piazza deserta e guardavo un mucchio di cartacce che si rincorrevano l'un l'altra. Non sentivo il vento perché stavo in un angolo riparato, ma eccole là, ammassate insieme in una vera e propria danza della morte. Un attimo dopo sembrava che avessero stipulato un armistizio ma, tutto a un tratto, uno sbuffo irresistibile della memoria sembrava soffiare su di loro, e ricominciavano, ognuna correndo dietro alla sua vicina finché scomparvero dietro l'angolo. Rimase solo un giornale intero; stava impotente sul selciato, e sbatteva astiosamente di qua e di là: sembrava un pesce fuor d'acqua che boccheggiasse. Non potei fare a meno di pensare che noi, in fin dei conti, siamo proprio come quei pezzetti di carta svolazzanti, nient'altro. Siamo trascinati di qua e di là da un "vento" invisibile e incomprensibile, che ci obbliga a comportarci in un certo modo, per quanto -da vanitosi- ci vantiamo della nostra forza di volontà.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Pensate al cristallo che, massa amorfa, assume una forma regolare ubbidendo alle proprie immutabili leggi pur senza averne coscienza. Non potrebbe succedere lo stesso nel mondo dello spirito?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Il mondo intero era ridotto a polvere e cenere; e la mia anima era nelle stesse condizioni.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Non per molto! Non sarei stato più lo zimbello di un goffo Fato, privo di scopo, che non sapeva nemmeno fare il suo disgustoso lavoro... che mi innalzava in cielo solo per precipitarmi nel sudicio stagno puzzolente dello scoraggiamento, e intanto suonava la sua stupida canzone che conoscevo benissimo... che tutti i bambini conoscevano... tutti i cani randagi perfino... che nulla dura sulla terra... che tutto passa... tutto...”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Avevo tuttavia ottenuto almeno un risultato fermo: la certezza che la successione degli avvenimenti della vita di ognuno non è che una strada senza uscita, per quanto ampia e facilmente percorribile possa sembrare, e che la soluzione del nostro più intimo mistero si può trovare nelle linee appena visibili incise nel nostro essere, piuttosto che nelle rivoltanti e ovvie cicatrici lasciate dalla raspa della vita esteriore.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Buchstaben zu empfinden, sie nicht nur mit den Augen in Büchern zu lesen, - einen Dolmetsch in mir selbst aufzustellen, der mir übersetzt, was die Instinkte ohne Worte raunen, darin muß der Schlüssel liegen, sich mit dem eigenen Innern durch klare Sprache zu verständigen, begriff ich.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“La mia immagine stava sulla soglia. Il mio doppio. In un mantello bianco. Una corona sulla testa. Per un breve istante. Quindi guizzarono le fiamme attraverso il legno della porta, e una calda nuvola di denso fumo soffocante invase la stanza”.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

“Nu, n-am să mor, n-am voie să mor! De dragul ei! Chiar dacă ar trebui să scapăr scântei din oase ca să mă încălzesc!”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Golem

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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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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