José Saramago · 341 pages
Rating: (18.2K votes)
“...for human words are like shadows, and shadows are incapable of explaining light and between shadow and light there is the opaque body from which words are born..”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Unlike Joseph her husband, Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Yet human experience and the practice of communication have shown throughout the ages that definitions are an illusion, like having a speech defect and trying to say love but unable to get the word out, or, better, having a tongue in one's head but unable to feel love.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“The time for miracles has either passed or not come yet, besides, miracles, genuine miracles, whatever people say, are not such a good idea, if it means destroying the very order of things in order to improve them.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“..."o Bem e o Mal não existem em si mesmos, cada um deles é somente a ausência do outro.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“كان الرب قد أخبر يسوع ستكون لي في دمك منذ الآن، أما الشيطان، إن كان ذلك هو، فقد رفضه بازدراء، لم تتعلم شيئاً، فاغرب عني، ومريم المجدلية التي يجري العرق من أسفل نهديها، وجدائلها المتراخية يتعالى منها البخور، شفتاها منتفختان، وعيناها مثل بحيرتين داكنتين، قالت له، لن تمكث معي بسبب ما علمتك أياه، ولكن إمض الليلة هنا. وأجابها يسوع وهو يعلوها، ما تعلميني إياه ليس سجناً بل هو الحرية”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“God will save you.
Surely you're forgetting that God saves souls rather than bodies.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“The sun appears in one of the upper corners of the rectangle, on the left of anyone looking at the picture.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“The angel told her, An honest man who committed a crime, you have no idea how many honest men have committed crimes, their crimes are countless, and contrary to popular belief these are the only crimes that cannot be forgiven.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“It just isn't possible for you to ask me all the questions, or for me to give you all the answers.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Are dreams perhaps the soul’s memories of the body,”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Morrerão milhares, Morrerão centenas de milhares, Morrerão centenas de milhares de homens e mulheres, a terra encher-se-á de gritos de dor, de uivos e roncos de agonia, o fumo dos queimados cobrirá o sol, a gordura deles rechinará sobre as brasas, o cheiro agoniará, e tudo isto será por minha culpa, Não por tua culpa, por tua causa, Pai, afasta de mim este cálice, Que tu o bebas é a condição do meu poder e da tua glória, Não quero esta glória, Mas eu quero esse poder.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Olharei a tua sombra se não quiseres que te olhe a ti, disse-lhe, e ele respondeu, Quero estar onde minha sombra estiver, se lá é que estiverem os teus olhos. Amavam-se e diziam palavras como estas, não apenas por serem belas ou verdadeiras, se é possível ser-se o mesmo ao mesmo tempo, mas porque pressentiam que o tempo das sombras estava chegando na sua hora, e era preciso que começassem a acostumar-se, ainda juntos, à escuridão da ausência definitiva.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“God does not forgive the sins He makes us commit.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Então Jesus compreendeu que viera trazido ao engano como se leva o cordeiro ao sacrifício, que a sua vida fora traçada para morrer assim desde o princípio dos princípios, e, subindo-lhe à lembrança o rio de sangue e de sofrimento que do seu lado irá nascer e alagar toda a terra, clamou para o céu aberto onde Deus sorria, Homens, perdoai-lhe, porque ele não sabe o que fez.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“لماذا انقذ الرب اسحاق ولم يفعل شيئا لحماية الأطفال المساكين الذين كانوا ابرياء كطفل
ابراهيم ؟”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Somewhere in the infinite that He occupies, God advances and withdraws the pawns of the other games He plays, but it is too soon to worry about this one, all He need do for the present is allow things to take their natural course, apart from the occasional adjustment with the tip of His little finger to make sure some stray thought or action does not interfere with the harmony of destinies.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“[...] todos nós, onde quer que estejamos e quem quer que sejamos, não fazemos mais na vida do que procurar o lugar onde iremos ficar para sempre.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Η μοίρα του καθενός είναι να βρίσκεται η μοίρα του στα χέρια των άλλων.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“The instant is gone, time has carried us into the realm of memory, it was like this, no, it was not, and everything becomes what we choose to invent.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“O artesão no seu trabalho não deve levantar-se ante o maior doutor, podemos imaginar com que orgulho profissional começava José a instruir os seus filhos mais velhos, um após outro, à medida que chegavam à idade, primeiro Jesus, depois Tiago, depois José, depois Judas, nos segredos e tradições da arte carpinteira, atento ele, também, à antiga sentença popular que assim reza, O trabalho do menino é pouco, mas quem o desdenha é louco, foi o que veio a chamar-se trabalho infantil.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Jesus wiped his tears on the back of his hand, blew his nose, who knows where, and yes, there is no point spending the whole day here, the desert is what it is, it surrounds us, in some ways protects us, but when it comes to giving, it gives us nothing, it simply looks on, and when the sun suddenly clouds over, so that we find ourselves thinking, The sky mirrors our sorrow, we are being foolish, because the sky is quite impartial and neither rejoices in our happiness nor is cast down by our grief.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“But why sacrifice Your own son’s life for so little, surely all You have to do is send a prophet. The time when people listened to prophets has passed, nowadays one must administer stronger medicine, shock treatment, to touch men’s hearts and stir their feelings. Such as a son of God hanging from a cross. Yes, why not.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“ღმერთი კვლავ დუმდა, ხოლო ნისლიდან ხმა მოისმა: ეგება ეს ღმერთი და ის მეორე, მისი მეტოქე რომ გახდება, - უბრალოდ ჰეტერონიმები არიან. და ვინ ან რაა, ვის ჰეტერონიმებადაც ეს ღმერთები მოიაზრებიან? - ცნობისწადილით დასვა შეკითხვა მეორე ხმამ. პესოა, უპასუხა პირველმა ხმამ და სიტყვა ნისლისგან სახეცვლილი, ისე გაისმა, როგორც პერსონა. იესომ, ღმერთმა და ეშმაკმა ჯერ თავი მოიკატუნეს, აქაოდა, არაფერი გაგვიგონიაო, მაგრამ წამსვე შეშინებულებმა გადახედეს ერთმანეთს, რამეთუ შიშს ასეთი თვისება აქვს - აახლოებს და აერთიანებს.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“That night there was no conversation, no prayers or stories around the fire, as if the proximity of Jerusalem demanded respectful silence, each man searching his heart and asking, Who is this person who resembles me yet whom I fail to recognize. This is not what they actually said, for people do not start talking to themselves like that, nor was this even in their conscious thoughts, but there can be no doubt that as we sit staring into the flames of a camp fire, our silence can be expressed only with words like these, which say everything.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“Deus é tanto mais Deus quanto mais inacessível for.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“São coisas que não se sabem explicar, como, sendo as pessoas feitas das mesmas humaníssimas matérias, esta carne, estes ossos, este sangue, esta pele e este riso, este suor e esta lágrima, vemos que saem uns cobardes e outros sem medo, uns de guerra e outros de paz.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“The will of God, the creator and ruler of the universe, embraces all possible wills, His own as well as that of every man born into this world. If this is so, intervened Jesus with sudden insight, then each man is a part of God.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
“In the end, daughter of pandora that I am, my curiosity got the best of me. I wish it hadn't.”
― Stephen King, quote from Just After Sunset
“In the history of Russian pessimism, the general decrepitude of the university buildings, the gloomy corridors, the grimy walls, the inadequate light, the dismal look of the stairs, cloakrooms and benches, occupy one of the foremost places in the series of causes predisposing...And here is our garden. It seems to have become neither better nor worse since I was a student. I don’t like it. It would be much smarter if, instead of consumptive lindens, yellow acacias, and sparse trimmed lilacs, there were tall pines and handsome oaks growing here. The student, whose mood is largely created by the surroundings of his place of learning, should see at every step only the lofty, the strong, the graceful...God save him from scrawny trees, broken windows, gray walls, and doors upholstered with torn oilcloth.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov
“Buzhardt was not sure, but he would check. He discerned that the President was extremely concerned about the gap, but there was something evasive in Nixon’s approach, something disturbing about his reaction. To Buzhardt, he seemed to be suggesting alternative explanations for the lawyer’s benefit, speculating on various excuses as if to say, “Well, couldn’t we go with one of those versions?” Buzhardt prided himself on being able to tell when the President was lying. Usually it wasn’t difficult. Nixon was perhaps the most transparent liar he had ever met. Almost invariably when the President lied, he would repeat himself, sometimes as often as three times—as if he were trying to convince himself. But this time Buzhardt couldn’t tell. One moment he thought Nixon was responsible, at another he suspected Woods. Maybe both of them had done it. One thing seemed fairly certain: it was no accident.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“So as a seventh grader, no, you weren't friends with people you didn't like. But sometimes you also weren't friends with people you did like, which was complicated, and which didn't make any sense if you tried to explain it. Sometimes things just changed. That's where the sadness came in.”
― Lauren Myracle, quote from Thirteen
“The notion that the lobby at Langley is choked with the corpses of former agents gunned down by their own colleagues at the behest of genocidal directors on the top floor is amusing but wholly unreal.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Fist of God
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