Pramoedya Ananta Toer · 400 pages
Rating: (761 votes)
“Hidup tanpa harapan adalah hidup yang kosong”
“Tidak, yang mati tidak harus bisu. Energi mereka tetap hidup melalui berbagai cara, jalan dan sarana, terutama melalui kenangan dan mulut para nyawa yang lolos dari saringannya di Buru ini. Pada suatu kali mungkin ada yang mampu mencatatnya tanpa tangannya gemetar dan tanpa membasahi kertasnya.”
“But I couldn't stop there. The call of adventure was much stronger and more inviting.”
“I came to see that man finds meaning in his existence only through the active demonstration of his human self, a cosmos comprising the entire constellation of life's factors: culture, civilization, tradition, history, ideals, facts, physical conditions, one's mental state, the ecology, and so on.”
“As hard as my life has been I have no desire for revenge. If I wish for anything it is for all the things that have been stolen from my life to be returned to me.”
“My words, my writing, my actions—these have never been for myself alone, either directly or indirectly. There is no such thing as an artist who creates art only for himself. That is masturbation.”
“People are raised to believe that happiness is the land to which they are destined to travel. But that belief, which one so easily accepts as true, might just as well be a mirage.”
“There is at least one advantage to being an Indonesian citizen: With this country's expanse of land and even greater expanse of sea, it's not difficult finding space for one's grave.”
“The study of history is useful to the historian by teaching him his ignorance of women.”
“(...) już jesteś głupi, że zmiłuj się Boże, głupi jak osioł, człowiek chciałby złoić ci skórę, a twoje myśli chodzą na czworakach z wywieszonym jęzorem (...)”
“You only get married the first time once.” There was the philosophy of a generation wrapped up in a tidy little sentence”
“And deep within him, missing its accustomed tread, his heart paused, and gave one single stroke, as if on an anvil.”
“Anxiety and anticipation, I was to learn, are the essential ingredients in suffering from pain, as opposed to feeling pain pure and simple.”
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