Kurban Said > Quotes

“Close your eyes, cover your ears with your hands and open your soul.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“This was it; the Mystery of The Unseen, the Gate of Sorrow, that leads to the Grace of the Redeemer. I pressed my lips together, and my hands gripped the windowsill. I saw the hand of Fatima, and all the visible world sank away from me.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Maybe that is the one real division between men: wood men and desert men.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Before you trust your camel to Allah's protection, tie it fast on to your fence.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“If a guest enters your house holding the severed head of your only son in his hand, you must still receive him, offer him food and drink and honour him as a guest.’ That is a wise law. But sometimes it is very difficult to keep”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“وحدها الصحراء لا تطرح أسئلة ولا تقدم شيئا ولا تعد بشيء”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Men should be told that there is no Black and no White, for Black is White and White is Black. So my advice is this: let us not do anything that might hurt anybody anywhere in the world, for we are part of each soul, and each soul is part of us.” We sat silent, nonplussed. So this was the heresy of Bab. Suddenly I heard loud sobbing, turned round and saw Asadulla, his face bathed in tears, and distorted with grief.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Every man who invents something to kill other people easily, quickly and in as great numbers as possible is highly praised, he makes much money and a decoration is bestowed on him. That is good and right. War must be. But on the other hand the Europeans build many hospitals, and a man who during a war cures and feeds enemy soldiers is also praised and decorated”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“من يفكر في الغد لا يمكن أن يكون شجاعا”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Here we are, representatives of the three greatest Caucasian people: a Georgian, a Mohammedan, an Armenian. Born under the same sky, by the same earth, different and yet the same, like God's Trinity. European, and yet Asiatic, receiving from the East and West, and giving to both.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“لقد فهمت أنهم شديدو الاهتمام بمدارسنا ولغتنا والمستشفيات والحرية. ولكن ما نفع المدارس إذا كان ما يُدرس فيها مجرد هراء؟ ما نفع المستشفيات إذا كانت لا تعالج إلا الجسد بينما تنسى أمر الروح؟ إن أرواحنا تهفو للذهاب إلى الله، لكن كل قومية تعتقد أنها تملك رباً لها وحدها، وأنه الرب الحق والرب والوحيد.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Armenians have more imagination than Mohammedans.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“ثم لزم والدى الصمت وقد بدت عيناه منعزلتين. كان يعرف ما هو أبعد من هذا العالم الواقعى، كما كان... واعياً لعالم آخر يستطيع الانعزال فيه حيث لا يمكن الوصول إليه فيه. لم يكن لدى سوى شعور مبهم عن مملكة هذا العالم الآخر المسالم، الذى يجعل المرء قادراً على دفن الأصدقاء ويمكنه مع ذلك التحدث مع النوتى عن معجزات جزر تشاردشوى. طرقت باب هذا العالم ولكن لم يُسمح لى بالدخول، فقد كنتُ شديد الانهماك فى واقعنا المؤلم.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Sie hatte eine helle Haut und große, lachende, funkelnde, dunkle kaukasische Augen unter langen, zarten Wimpern. Nur die Georgierin hat solche Augen voll milder Fröhlichkeit. Niemand sonst. Keine Europäerin. Keine Asiatin.”
― Kurban Said

“He rose, took a slender silver water can with a long slim neck and staggered out. After a while he came back and put the can on the floor. We all rose to congratulate him, for his body had cleared itself of superfluous matter.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Mag sein, daß die Leute sagen werden, ich bleibe daheim, um mich nicht von den dunklen Augen Ninos trennen zu müssen. Mag sein. Vielleicht haben diese Menschen auch recht. Denn diese dunklen Augen sind für mich wie die heimatliche Erde, wie der Ruf der Heimat nach ihrem Sohn, den ein Fremder auf fremde Wege verleiten will. Ich bleibe, um die dunklen Augen der Heimat vor dem Unsichtbaren zu schützen.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“If a guest enters your
house holding the severed head of your only son in his hand, you must still
receive him, offer him food and drink and honour him as a guest.’ That is a
wise law. But sometimes it is very difficult to keep”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“Camels came into town from the desert, with long sad steps, carrying sand in their yellow hair, looking far into the distance, with eyes that had seen eternity.”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino: A Love Story

“No perdones nunca a tus enemigos, hijo mío, que nosotros no somos cristianos”
― Kurban Said, Ali and Nino

“It seemed to her that she was reading the story of her own dreams, desires, and hopes. She sensed something immense, something calling behind the chaos of these primitive forms and structures of words.”
― Kurban Said