Tania > Tania's Quotes

“Man can only be certain about the present moment. But is that quite true either? Can he really know the present? Is he in a position to make any judgment about it? Certainly not. For how can a person with no knowledge of the future understand the meaning of the present? If we do not know what future the present is leading us toward, how can we say whether this present is good or bad, whether it deserves our concurrence, or our suspicion, or our hatred?”
― Milan Kundera, Ignorance

“You talking about computer weaknesses?"
"Yes. But also human weaknesses."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning the types of weaknesses that make humans let down their guard. Trust people they shouldn't trust."
"You're talking about manipulating people."
"Yes." Dexter and Lester were staring at each other. "I guess I am.”
― Chris Pavone, The Expats

“This is the expat life: you never know when someone you see every day is going to disappear forever, instantly transmogrifying into a phantom. Before long you won’t be able to remember her last name, the color of her eyes, the grades that her children were in. You can’t imagine not seeing her tomorrow. You can’t imagine you yourself being one of those people, someone who one day just vanishes. But you are.”
― Chris Pavone, The Expats

“After all, she herself had done the very worst thing imaginable. And she was a good person. Wasn’t she?”
― Chris Pavone, The Expats

“An unfamiliar city is a fine thing. That's the time and place when you can suppose that all the people you meet are nice. It's dream time. ”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“There's no tyrant like a brain. ”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“Most people don't die until the last moment; others start twenty years in advance, sometimes more. Those are the unfortunates.”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“[...] and it's the majority who decide what's crazy and what isn't”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“It might be a little silly for someone getting to be my age to put this into words, but I just want to make sure I get the facts down clearly : I'm the kind of person who likes to be by himself. To put a finer point on it, I'm the type of person who doesn't find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two everyday running alone, not speaking to anyone as well as four of five hours at my desk, to be neither difficult or boring.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“When I'm running I don't have to talk to anybody and don't have to listen to anybody. This is a part of my day I can't do without.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“You have to wait until tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― haruki murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“If there’s something I can’t do but want to, I won’t relax until I’m able to do it.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“An unhealthy soul requires a healthy body.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“I'm the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“We never change. Neither our socks nor our masters nor our opinions, or we're so slow about it that it's no use. We were born loyal and that's what killed us! Soldiers free of charge, heroes for everyone else, talking monkeys, tortured words, we are the minions of King Misery...It's not a life.”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“I believe death is only a door. One closes, and another opens. If I were to imagine heaven, I would imagine a door opening. And he would be waiting for me there.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“History admits no rules; only outcomes.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“- This isn't an interrogation or a trail. Your version of the truth is the only thing that matters.

-Truth is singular. It's 'versions' are mistruths.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“...there ain't no journey what don't change you some.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“We are only what we know, and I wished to be so much more than I was, sorely.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“Do ants get headaches?”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“A real diamond is never perfect.”
― Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

“Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language.”
― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“No matter how honestly you open up to someone, there are still things you cannot reveal.”
― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“Cell phones are so convenient that they're an inconvenience.”
― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“The heart apparently doesn’t stop that easily.”
― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“Who can say if the thoughts you have in your mind as you read these words are the same thoughts I had in my mind as I typed them? We are different, you and I, and the qualia of our consciousnesses are as divergent as two stars at the ends of the universe.

And yet, whatever has been lost in translation in the long journey of my thoughts through the maze of civilization to your mind, I think you do understand me, and you think you do understand me. Our minds managed to touch, if but briefly and imperfectly.

Does that thought not make the universe seem just a bit kinder, a bit brighter, a bit warmer and more human?

We live for such miracles.”
― Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

“Every act of communication is a miracle of translation.”
― Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories