Pascal Bruckner > Quotes

“Ma leg mai ales de fiintele care n-au nevoie de mine si pe care deodata le inlantui prin cea mai puternica legatura. Sunt gata sa dau totul cui nu cere nimic, dar nu vreau sa cedez nimic cui asteapta totul de la celalalt.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“Ultimately, 'how's it going?' is the most futile and the most profound of questions. To answer it precisely, one would have to make a scrupulous inventory of one's psyche, considering each aspect in detail. No matter: we have to say 'fine' out of politeness and civility and change the subject, or else ruminate the question during our whole lives and reserve our reply for afterward.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“‎"Imperfecţiunea este mult mai seducătoare decât plicticoasa regulariate. O figură emoţionantă este o asamblare de defecte armonios repartizate.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“By the duty to be happy, I thus refer to the ideology... that urges us to evaluate everything in terms of pleasure and displeasure...on the one hand, we have to make the most of our lives; on the other, we have to be sorry and punish ourselves if we don't succeed in doing so. This is a perversion of a very beautiful idea: that everyone has a right to control his own destiny and to improve his life.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“„A iubi înseamnă să-i dau celuilalt, cu propriul meu consimţământ, o putere infinită asupra mea. Cum de putusem contribui la propria mea servitute?”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Ο έρωτας φυσικά είναι δυο μοναξιές που ζευγαρώνουν για να φτιάξουν μια παρεξήγηση. Υπάρχει όμως πιο γοητευτική παρεξήγηση; Και η πραγματική σοφία δεν είναι άραγε η ικανότητα να ερωτεύεται κανείς ξανά και ξανά;”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“We are not afraid of death,” the suicide bombers say to show their superiority to ordinary people. But they are afraid of life, constantly trampling on it, slandering it, destroying it, and training children still in their cradles for martyrdom. Observers have noted that the photos of terrorists taken a few hours before they made their attacks show people who are serene and at peace. They have eliminated doubt: they know. It is the paradox of open societies that they seem to be disordered, unjust, threatened by crime, loneliness, and drugs because they display their indignity before the whole world, never ceasing to admit their defects, whereas other, more oppressive societies seem harmonious because the press and the opposition are muzzled.
“Where there are no visible conflicts, there is no freedom,” Montesquieu said.”
― Pascal Bruckner, The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism

“Η μοναξιά μες στο ζευγάρι είναι πολύ μεγαλύτερη απ' τη μοναξιά του μοναχικού.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Prefer oamenilor cărţile: sunt deja scrise, le deschizi, le închizi după voie. O fiinţă omenească, nu ştii niciodată de unde s-o apuci, nu poţi s-o rânduieşti sau s-o deplasezi după cum ţi-e cheful.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Les voleurs de beauté

“Un cuplu care durează este, în mod paradoxal, un cuplu care acceptă că este muritor, și se trăiește pe sine ca fiind releul unei aventuri care-l depășește. Puterea cuplului amoros stă în aceea că este imperfect și maleabil, protejat chiar de ceea ce-l face vulnerabil. Fiind imperfect, el poate fi reformat la nesfârșit. El rămâne, în ceea ce are esențial, o promisiune aruncată peste abisul îndoielii, un pariu pe longevitate, un act de încredere în puterile fecunde ale timpului.”
― Pascal Bruckner, The Paradox of Love

“The critical spirit rises up against itself and consumes its form. But instead of coming out of this process greater and purified, it devours itself in a kind of self-cannibalism and takes a morose pleasure in annihilating itself. Hyper-criticism eventuates in self-hatred, leaving behind it only ruins. A new dogma of demolition is born out of the rejection of dogmas. Thus we Euro-Americans are supposed to have only one obligation: endlessly atoning for what we have inflicted on other parts of humanity. How can we fail to see that this leads us to live off self-denunciation while taking a strange pride in being the worst? Self-denigration is all too clearly a form of indirect self-glorification. Evil can come only from us; other people are motivated by sympathy, good will, candor. This is the paternalism of the guilty conscience: seeing ourselves as the kings of infamy is still a way of staying on the crest of history.”
― Pascal Bruckner, The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism

“Totusi, destul de iute simplicitatea actului sexual m-a plictisit; in cele mai rele excese percepeam monotonie si patos mult. Oricat de puternica era desfatarea, ea nu era niciodata destul de puternica. Mi-am dat seama atunci ca trupul e limitat, spre deosebire de gand.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Les voleurs de beauté

“Όλα μπορεί κανείς να τα συγχωρέσει σ' έναν άνθρωπο, της έλεγα, τη χυδαιότητά του, τη βλακεία του, όλα εκτός από την ανία που σου προκαλεί.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“Είχα κάνει τη φιλενάδα μου φοβερή για να μπορέσω αργότερα να τη βρω ακόμα πιο ασήμαντη. Ο υπερβολικός θαυμασμός κρύβει μέσα του το μίσος. Είναι σα να γκρεμίζεις από πριν αυτόν που έστησες στο βάθρο.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Sunt victorii care duc la un impas, tot aşa cum sunt înfrângeri care deschid căi noi.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“Today, luxury resides in everything that is becoming rare: communion with nature, silence, meditation, slowness rediscovered, the pleasure of living out of step with others, studious idleness, the enjoyment of the major works of the mind - these are all privileges that cannot be bought because they are literally priceless.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy

“Ce să-i faci: nu rănim cu adevărat decât fiinţele ce ne sunt dragi, nu-i nicio plăcere să te iei de nişte necunoscuţi. Şi-apoi, tot ceea ce numim civilizaţie se bazează pe aprofundarea cruzimii. Ferocitatea prosperă astăzi în cuvinte, se spiritualizează din pricina discreditării violenţei fizice. Generaţia noastră, care se mândreşte cu faptul că a alungat barbaria, a silit-o să se întoarcă mascată. Nimeni nu-şi mai dozează forţa cu pumnii sau cu muşchii, toţi ne-o întărim cu mintea sau cu limba. Societatea noastră a devenit astfel mai rafinată, dar încă n-a statornicit pedepse pentru îndreptarea enormelor pagube comise de batjocură şi calomnie.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Τι είναι ένα ζευγάρι; Η απάρνηση της ζωής με αντάλλαγμα την ασφάλεια, το άχαρο πρόσωπο του νόμιμου έρωτα.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“În fond, n-ai fost niciodată decât o creație a minții mele, un idol pe care-l susțineam cu brațele; vedeam numai idolul, nu și efortul brațelor mele.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Astăzi vrei totul, imedat şi simultan: dragoste nebună, dar şi siguranţă, fidelitate, dar şi deschidere faţă de lume, copilul, dar şi libertate absolută, monogamia, dar şi ameţelile libertinajului. Sunt cereri contradictorii şi infantile. (...) Cuplul bazat pe dragoste, sentimentul cel mai fiabil şi fragil cu putinţă, este condamnat la viaţă scurtă şi la criză. Libertatea sexuală este o grea povară pentru tineri. Ei trăiesc nostalgia vechiului limbaj al dragostei compus din prudenţă, înţelepciune, melancolie... .”
― Pascal Bruckner, The Temptation of Innocence - Living in the Age of Entitlement

“Όταν φύγουν πια όλα τα εμπόδια, ο πόθος χάνει την ουσία του. Γιατί ο πόθος είναι γέννημα της πονηριάς: αγαπάει τους πλάγιους δρόμους της παρανομίας, η ευθεία γραμμή τον κουράζει.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“Μην ξεχνάτε ωστόσο πως δεν αγαπάει κανείς τίποτα αν δεν αγαπάει τα πάντα.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Dragostea înseamnă evident două solitudini care se împerechează ca să creeze o neînţelegere. Există însă neînţelegere mai seducătoare? Iar adevărata înţelepciune nu rezidă oare într-o capacitate neîncetată de a te îndrăgosti din nou? Începutul unei legături Îşi imprimă stilul asupra a tot ceea ce va urma: clipă magică asupra căreia vorbele amanţilor vor reveni neostoit pentru a povesti până la tocire dulceaţa primelor zile. De fapt, primul contact se află de partea speranţei, el repune pe linia de plutire visul nebunesc al unei iubiri autentice, definitive. Iată de ce există întâlniri prea frumoase care ucid sentimentul, întâlniri banale care emit o judecată prematură asupra josniciei relaţiilor, altele în sfârşit purtătoare de exigenţe cărora amanţii nu li se pot sustrage fără să decadă.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Το χειρότερο δεν είναι πάντα η αποτυχία αλλά οι θεατές που την επικυρώνουν.”
― Pascal Bruckner

“Είχα διαλέξει το κακό επειδή ήταν βολικό, γιατί προτιμούσα να είμαι κάτι παρά τίποτα.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Pe cine sa acuzi, vai, daca nu „pe noi doi" si ce amaraciune e mai mare decât sa-l ucizi pe cel pe care-l adori prin simplul fapt de a fi împreuna?”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Κανένας πόνος κοντά σου δε φτάνει τον πόνο που θα ένιωθα αν σ' έχανα.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Progressive thought is blind when it suggests that there can be no anti-white racism or an anti-semitism among the formerly oppressed or the young people in the projects because they themselves have suffered from this evil. They are the victims; they are exempt from the prejudices that affect the majority of the population. But the reverse is true: racism is multiplying at exponential rates among groups and communities, taboos are collapsing, and everything is explained in terms of physical characteristics, identity, purity, and difference. and this is a racism that is all the more certain that it is right because it is regarded as a legitimate reaction on the part of the persecuted. now we see the obsession with the pedigree and the old distinctions derived from slavery being revived, and prejudices accumulating in the name of racism. This is the end of the concept of humanity as union in diversity and the triumph of human species incompatible with each other.”
― Pascal Bruckner, The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism

“Nu râde de autobuz: nu există un loc de elecţiune pentru o dragoste la prim a vedere. Chiar şi o cutie pe roţi poate deveni anticamera paradisului atunci când crezi în hazard.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Bitter Moon

“Our societies put into the category of the pathological what other cultures consider normal - the preponderance of pain - and put into the category of the normal and even the necessary what others see as exceptional - the feeling of happiness. The question is not whether we are more or less happy than our ancestors: our conception of happiness has changed, and to change utopias is to change constraints. But we are probably living in the world's first societies that make people unhappy not to be happy.”
― Pascal Bruckner, Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy