Chingiz Aitmatov > Quotes

“And all of a sudden I began to understand his strangeness that made people shrug and mock; his dreaminess, his love of solitude, his silent manner. Now I understood why he sat on the look-out hill of an evening and why he spent a night by himself on the riverbank, why he constantly hearkened to sounds others could not hear and why his eyes would suddenly gleam and his drawn eyebrows twitch. He was a man deeply in love. I felt it was not simply a love for another person, it was somehow an uncommon, expansive love for life and earth. He had kept this love within himself, in his music, in his very being. A person with no feeling, no matter how good his voice, could never have sung like that.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“The only thing I'll never have is what I have lost for ever and ever... As long as I live, until I draw my last breath, I shall remember Asel and all those beautiful things that were ours. The day I was to leave I went to the lake and stood on the rise above it. I was saying good-bye to the Tien Shan mountains, to Issyk-Kul. Good-bye, Issyk-Kul, my unfinished song! How I wish I could take you with me, your blue waters and your yellow shores, but I can't, just as I can't take the woman I love with me. Goodbye, Asel. Good-bye, my pretty poplar in a red kerchief! Good-bye, my love, I want you to be happy...”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Piebald Dog Running Along the Shore and Other Stories

“لا يمكن للمرء أن يُعبّر دائمًا عن كل شيء بالكلمات.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“It is a pity the spirit does not grow old too.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Spotted Dog Running Along the Seashore

“Bu yerlerde trenler doğudan batıya, batıdan doğuya gider gelir, gider gelirdi... Bu yerlerde demiryolunun her iki yanında ıssız, engin, sarı kumlu bozkırların özeği Sarı Özek uzar giderdi. Coğrafyada uzaklıklar nasıl Greenwich meridyeninden başlıyorsa, bu yerlerde de mesafeler demiryoluna göre hesaplanırdı. Trenler ise doğudan batıya, batıdan doğuya gider gelir, gider, gelirdi...”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years

“İyilik, yola düşen, yoldan toplanan bir şey değildir. Tesadüfen ele geçen bir şey de değildir. İnsan iyiliği ancak başka bir insandan öğrenir.”
― Cengiz Aytmatov, Toprak Ana

“Demiri nasıl tavında dövmek gerekiyorsa, çekiç darbelerini nasıl soğutmadan indirmek gerekiyorsa her kelimeyi de öyle tam zamanında söylemek gerekiyordu. O anı geçince söz soğuyor, katılaşıyor, insanın yüreğine taş gibi oturuyor ve bu ağırlığı kaldırıp atmak hiç de kolay olmuyordu.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Toprak Ana

“الحرب متخثّرة كالدم في أعماق قلب الإنسان، والحديث عنها ليس بالأمر السهل.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“His singing made me want to fall to the ground and kiss it, as a son to a mother, grateful that someone could love it so keenly. For the first time in my life something new awoke within me, something irresistible: I still cannot explain it. It was a need to express myself, yes, to express myself, not only to see and sense the world, but to bring to others my vision, my thoughts and sensations, to describe the beauty of the earth as inspiringly as Daniyar could sing. I caught my breath for fear and joy of the unknown. At that time, however, I had not yet realized the need to take up brush and paints.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“There will be winter, there will be cold, there will be snowstorms, but then there will be spring.. Agian..”
― Chinghiz Aitmatov

“Trains in these parts went from East to West, and from West to East . . .
On either side of the railway lines lay the great wide spaces of the desert - Sary-Ozeki, the Middle lands of the yellow steppes.
In these parts any distance was measured in relation to the railway, as if from the Greenwich meridian . . .
And the trains went from East to West, and from West to East . . .”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years

“Nothing but water -- an ever-moving swell; nothing but waves, swiftly forming and instantly dying; nothing but depths; dark, fathomless depths; and nothing but sky, scudding white clouds, puffy and intangible. This was the living world, nothing besides, nothing else but sea. No winter or summer, no hills or ravines.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Spotted Dog Running Along the Seashore

“Bana sorarsanız gerçek mutluluk yaz yağmuru gibi birden boşanmaz insanın başına. Davranışımıza, çevremizdeki insanlarla ilişkimize her gün azar azar çekidüzen vererek eksiklerimizi tamamlarız. Yavaş yavaş biriken bir şeydir mutluluk.”
― Cengiz Aytmatov

“But you no longer heard the song. You had gone away, my boy, into your tale. Did you know that you would never turn into a fish, that you would never reach Issyk-Kul, or see the white ship, or say to it: "Hello, white ship, it's I"?
You swam away.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The White Steamship

“Oh, Issyk-Kul, my Issyk-Kul--my unfinished song! Why did I have to remember that day when I came here with Asel and stopped on the same rise, right above the water? Everything was the same. The blue-and-white waves ran up the yellow shore holding hands. The sun was setting behind the mountains, and at the far end of the lake the water was tinged with pink. The swans wheeled over the water with excited, exultant cries. They soared up and dropped down on outspread wings that seemed to hum. They whipped up the water and started wide, foaming circles. Everything was the same, only there was no Asel with me. Where are you, my slender poplar in a red kerchief, where are you now?”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Piebald Dog Running Along the Shore and Other Stories

“Kötü, hemen hemen her defasında, niçin 'iyi'den daha güçlü olarak ortaya çıkıyor ?”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Dişi Kurdun Rüyaları

“Mutluluk, birbirini tamamlayan ufak tefek şeylerin birikmesinden doğuyor.”
― Cengiz Aytmatov, Toprak Ana

“I was astounded at the passion and fire of the melody itself. I could not describe it then, nor can I now. Was it just his voice or something more tangible emerging from his very soul that could arouse such emotion in another person, and bring one's innermost thoughts to life?”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“Mutluluk,yaz yağmuruna
benzemez.
Umulmadık anda birden bire
boşanmaz insanın tepesinden.
Azar azar gelir.
İnsanın hayata ve çevresine karşı
davranışları getirir mutluluğu,
Azar azar birike birike.
Gerçek mutluluk böyle doğar.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Toprak Ana

“İşin en korkunç yanı, çocukların neden aç kaldıklarını, niçin yiyecek bulamadıklarını anlayamaması.”
― Cengiz Aytmatov, Toprak Ana

“Even now I often ask myself: perhaps love produces a feeling of inspiration similar to that experienced by an artist or a poet?”
― Chinghiz Aitmatov

“Where are you now? What roads are you treading? We have so many new roads now, right across the steppe all the way to the Altai and Siberia. Many brave souls are toiling there. Perhaps you're among them? You left, my Jamilia, across the wide steppe without a backward glance. Perhaps you are weary, perhaps you have lost faith in your self? Just lean on Daniyar's shoulder. Have him sing to you his song of love, of life, of the earth. May the steppe come alive and blossom in all its glory. May you recall that August night. Keep on, Jamilia, have no regrets; you've found your hard-sought happiness.
When I gaze at them long enough I can hear Daniyar's voice. He is calling to me, too, to take the highroad, which means it is time for me to get ready. I shall cross the steppe back to my village and find fresh colours there.
May Daniyar's song resound and may Jamilia's heart beat with every stroke of my brush.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia

“Fainting with heat, he suddenly found himself in the cold, cold river. He had turned into a fish. Tail, body, fins - everything was fishlike, except the head, which was his own and still ached. He swam through the muted, cool, underwater darkness and thought that now he would remain a fish forever and never go back to the moutains. "I won't return," he said to himself. "It's better to be a fish, it's better to be a fish...”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The White Steamship

“Böyle korkunç olaylar bazen insanların da başına gelebilir. Üstesinden gelemediği çelişkilerle baş başa kalan insan, moral bakımından derinden derine sarsılır ama bunu kimseye söyleyemez, çünkü kimse ona yardım edemez. Bu korkunç bir yer kayması gibidir, tehlikeyi görürsünüz, ama bir şey yapamazsınız.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years

“Kendi ayıbını örtmek isteyen başkalarının yüzüne kara çalar.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The White Steamship

“But a man cannot remain indifferent to the world around him; it worries him and torments him to think that he could be happier somewhere else, and that he is where he is simply through a mistake of fate”
― Chingiz Aitmatov

“Şimdi ben sana yalnız şunu söyleyebilirim: Çocuk kalbinin,çocuk ruhunun bağdaşmadığı her şeyi reddettin.İşte beni teselli eden de budur.Bir şimşek gibi yaşadın sen.Bir defa çaktın ve söndün.Şimşeği çaktıran göktür.Ve gök ebedidir.İşte budur beni teselli eden.Bir başka tezim daha var: İnsandaki çocuk vicdanı,tohumdaki öz gibidir.Ve o öz olmadan tohum filizlenmez,gelişmez.Yeryüzünde bizi neler beklerse beklesin,insanoğlu doğdukça ve öldükçe,insanoğlu yaşadıkça,haç ve doğruluk denen şey de var olacaktır.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Beyaz Gemi / Toprak Ana / Deve Gözü / İlk Öğretmenim

“Üstelik bütün gölü kurutmaları ihtimali vardı. Korunmaya alınmış, sit alanı ilan edilmiş olsun, olmasın, tereddütsüz yakacaklardı o bölgeyi. İnsanoğlu çıkarı uğruna yerküreyi bir limon gibi sıkabilirdi.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Плаха

“Ee, oğlum, paranın hüküm sürdüğü yerde, güzel söze ve güzelliğe yer kalmaz.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, The White Steamship

“الأطفال يغارون دائمًا على أقاربهم من الغرباء.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, Jamilia