Quotes from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“Hidup tanpa harapan adalah hidup yang kosong”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“But I couldn't stop there. The call of adventure was much stronger and more inviting.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

“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.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir

Video

About the author

Popular quotes

“Are you wearing that?' he [Daniel] said. I looked down. I was wearing my batman onesie.
'Yes,' I said, 'Problem?'
'So many,' he said, turning around. 'So many problems.”
― Alice Oseman, quote from Radio Silence

“It was all I wanted for the longest time- to open my eyes and see you there. To stretch out my hand and touch the soft, yielding warmth of your skin. But now I have learned the secret of distance. Now I know being close to you was never about the proximity.”
― Lang Leav, quote from The Universe of Us

“The conduct of a new sedoretu is to some extent, and wisely, prescribed by custom and sanctioned by religion. The first night after the ceremony of marriage belongs to the Morning and Evening couples; the second night to the Day and Night couples. Thereafter the four spouses may join as and when they please, but always and only by invitation given and accepted, and the arrangements are to be known to all four. Four souls and bodies and all the years of their four lives to come are in the balance in each of those decisions and invitations; passion, negative and positive, must find its channels, and trust must be established, lest the whole structure fail to found itself solidly, or destroy itself in selfishness and jealousy and grief.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, quote from The Birthday of the World and Other Stories

“A verse came to mind, one that has comforted Kari before. It was the shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept. If he cried over Jerusalem, if he cried over the death of Lazarus, surely he was crying now over the death of her dreams, the death of her marriage.”
― Karen Kingsbury, quote from Redemption

“C’è un equilibrio precario, e l’uomo si spinge in avanti per non vacillare, come un funambolo. E poiché avanzando nella vita egli si lascia quella vissuta alle spalle, gli anni ancora da vivere e quelli già vissuti formano un muro, e il suo cammino finisce per assomigliare a quello del tarlo che, nel legno, può contorcersi come vuole, perfino tornare indietro, ma si lascia sempre alle spalle uno spazio vuoto. E in questa tremenda sensazione di uno spazio cieco, tagliato fuori, dietro a quello riempito, in questa metà che continua a mancare, sebbene tutto sia già un intero, si scorge finalmente ciò che chiamiamo anima.”
― Robert Musil, quote from The Man Without Qualities: Vol. 1

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.