Gavriel Savit > Quotes

“I know it's not good for a girl to be without a father these days. But is it any better for a father to be without a daughter?”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“It's their failure, my little Anna, not yours. Men who try to understand the world without the help of children are like men who try to bake bread without the help of yeast.”
― Gavriel Savit

“Normally, her mind was like a busy beach - all day long she would run back and forth, leaving footprints, building small mounds and castles, writing out ideas and diagrams with her fingers in the sand, but when the night tide came in, she would close her eyes and allow each wave of rhythmic breath to wash in and out over her day's accumulation, and before long the beach would be clear and empty, and she would drift off to sleep.”
― Gavriel Savit

“Because," said the swallow man. "A friend is not someone to whom you give the things you need when the world is at war. A friend is someone to whom you give the things that you need when the world is at peace.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Men who try to understand the world without the help of children are like men who try to bake bread without the help of yeast.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Human beings are the best hope in the world of other human beings to survive.”
― Gavriel Savit

“Each man is the steward of his own soul.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“The world as it exists is a very, very dangerous place.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Аз не знам всичко, скъпа моя. Но и не искам да знам. Едвал ли би било много приятно да знаеш всичко. Знанието е хубаво нещо, разбира се, и много важно, защото нещата, които знаем, се превръщат в наши оръдия на действие, а в този свят без наличието на добри оръдия е много трудно да оцелееш... [...] Но знанието е и особен вид смърт. Един въпрос съдържа в себе си целия потенциал на живата вселена, а познанието е статично и безплодно. Въпросите, Анна, въпросите са много по-ценни от отговорите, пък и те много по-рядко могат да избухнат в лицето ти! Ако продължиш да задаваш въпроси, няма начин да се отклониш от правия път.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“A river goes wherever the riverbank does. It never had to ask which way, but only flows along. Yes?”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“The only way to imagine the sound of that sort of screaming is to think of it as the sound produced when the universe rips itself open to let Death come through”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“They did not like each other particularly, would never have called one another friend or even have associated under different circumstances, and wherever they were, an argument seemed to lie only a few seconds' journey from them in any given direction.

But something had begun to grow between them as well--a sort of cooperative understanding--and the moments in which this was most obvious were the moments in which one of the two men would forgo his own strongly held way of being and embrace the other's, as if giving a moment of his life to his opposite in tribute.”
― Gavriel Savit

“To keep yourself from becoming an instrument of death, you kill?”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Knowledge is, of course, very important, because the things that we know become our tools, and without good tools at our disposal, it is quite difficult to remain alive in the world.
But knowledge is also a kind of death. A question holds all the potential of the living universe within it. In the same way, a piece of knowledge is inert and infertile. Questions, Anna – questions are far more valuable than answers, and they do much less blowing up in your face as well. If you continue to seek questions, you cannot stray far off the proper road.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“The practice of lying is concerned with attempting to overlay a thin paper substitute atop the world that exists in order that it seem to suit your purposes. But the Swallow Man didn't need the world to suit him. He could make himself suit whatever world it pleased him to agree existed.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Макар и тежко, разочарованието се побира много лесно във всеки куфар - има остри ръбове и заоблени ъгли, и винаги пасва и в последното останало празно пространство. Почти същото е с надеждата. Но хибридът между тези двете не е толкова универсален - той е неравен, доста по-обемен и много тежък. И твърде крехък, за да се побере в багаж. Трябва да се носи на ръце.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“forefinger, pointing right, parallel”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Άκουσέ με: αν έχεις ποτέ την παραμικρή αμφιβολία ότι υπάρχει κάτι καλό ή παρηγορητικό στο οποίο μπορείς να βασιστείς, τότε πρέπει να θεωρήσεις πως δεν έχεις τίποτα.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Man who try to understand the world without the help of children are like men who try to bake bread without the help of yeast”
― Gavriel Savit

“Υπήρχε και κάτι άλλο ακόμα, κάτι που πάλευε να περιγράψει η Άννα, κάτι που την έκανε να νιώθει εκείνο το είδος απόλυτης προστασίας και ασφάλειας το οποίο συχνά παύει εντελώς να υφίσταται με το τέλος της παιδικής ηλικίας. Αυτό το πράγμα ήταν το καλύτερο στοιχείο της πατρικότητας.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“It was not a maze, but a labyrinth. One path masqueraded as many. No matter which fork he chose, the destination was the same. The choice was never false—only the choosing. The direction matters less than you think.”
― Gavriel Savit, The Way Back

“Η Άννα θυμόταν ότι εκείνες οι μέρες σαν να ήταν γεμάτες ζεστασιά και ήλιο, αλλά έμαθε ότι ο πόλεμος είναι σαν την κακοκαιρία - αν κοντεύει να ξεσπάσει, τότε καλύτερα να μη βρίσκεσαι σε εξωτερικό χώρο.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man

“Death frowned, light and tight. “I might ask you the same question. For as much as it frightens each of you to see my face, it grieves me to see each of yours.”
Because the Messenger comes for each of us in turn. Because, if by nothing else, we are bound together by her visit.
And in this way, it is a kindness. In this way, the Messenger’s terrible face is a reminder that none of us is alone.”
― Gavriel Savit, The Way Back

“Αν έχεις αναλάβει να περπατάς στα λιβάδια και στα δάση της Πολωνίας κουβαλώντας μαζί σου το βαρύ φορτίο ολόκληρου του κόσμου, τότε δεν αρμόζει να τραγουδάς γι' αυτό παρά μόνο με ελαφρότητα.”
― Gavriel Savit

“Τα σύνορα ίσως να ήταν μόνο μία γραμμή στην άμμο, αλλά, όταν φοβάσαι, φαντάζει απέραντα μεγάλη η διαφορά της περιπλάνησης στη δική σου αυλή και της περιπλάνησης στην αυλή του γείτονα.”
― Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man