DN > DN's Quotes

“How do you expect to communicate with the ocean, when you can’t even understand one another?”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“به سراغ من اگر می آیید
نرم و آهسته بیایید
تا مبادا که ترک بردارد
چینی نازک تنهائی من”
― سهراب سپهری

“Это вы хорошо сказали, — отвечал Кандид, — но надо возделывать наш сад.”
― Voltaire, Весь Вольтер

“…dumheden hos disse mænd og den endnu større dumhed hos dem, der tror, at de er stærkere end naturen, og med eventyrlige argumenter bilder sig selv ind, at de formår, hvad de ikke formår, og ønsker at få andre til at handle ligesom dem selv, selvom det strider imod deres natur.”
― Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron

“Better a sparrow, living or dead, than no birdsong at all.”
― Catullus

“One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do.”
― José Saramago, Death with Interruptions

“Isn’t it said that memories only grow more beautiful with time?”
― Osamu Dazai, Otogizōshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
― Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

“We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, if we examine it more closely, our enthusiasm turns out to be all a sham. We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos. For us, such and such a planet is as arid as the Sahara, another as frozen as the North Pole, yet another as lush as the Amazon basin. We are humanitarian and chivalrous; we don't want to enslave other races, we simply want to bequeath them our values and take over their heritage in exchange. We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is. We are searching for an ideal image of our own world: we go in quest of a planet, a civilization superior to our own but developed on the basis of a prototype of our primeval past. At the same time, there is something inside us which we don't like to face up to, from which we try to protect ourselves, but which nevertheless remains, since we don't leave Earth in a state of primal innocence. We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us - that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence - then we don't like it anymore.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Tell me something. Do you believe in God?'

Snow darted an apprehensive glance in my direction. 'What? Who still believes nowadays?'

'It isn't that simple. I don't mean the traditional God of Earth religion. I'm no expert in the history of religions, and perhaps this is nothing new--do you happen to know if there was ever a belief in an...imperfect God?'

'What do you mean by imperfect?' Snow frowned. 'In a way all the gods of the old religions were imperfect, considered that their attributes were amplified human ones. The God of the Old Testament, for instance, required humble submission and sacrifices, and and was jealous of other gods. The Greek gods had fits of sulks and family quarrels, and they were just as imperfect as mortals...'

'No,' I interrupted. 'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is a...sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first. A god who has created clocks, but not the time they measure. He has created systems or mechanisms that serves specific ends but have now overstepped and betrayed them. And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.'

Snow hesitated, but his attitude no longer showed any of the wary reserve of recent weeks:

'There was Manicheanism...'

'Nothing at all to do with the principles of Good and Evil,' I broke in immediately. 'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...'

Snow pondered for a while:

'I don't know of any religion that answers your description. That kind of religion has never been...necessary. If i understand you, and I'm afraid I do, what you have in mind is an evolving god, who develops in the course of time, grows, and keeps increasing in power while remaining aware of his powerlessness. For your god, the divine condition is a situation without a goal. And understanding that, he despairs. But isn't this despairing god of yours mankind, Kelvin? Is it man you are talking about, and that is a fallacy, not just philosophically but also mystically speaking.'

I kept on:

'No, it's nothing to do with man. man may correspond to my provisional definition from some point of view, but that is because the definition has a lot of gaps. Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve is age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside. If there was only a since human being in existence, he would apparently be able to attempt the experiment of creating his own goals in complete freedom--apparently, because a man not brought up among other human beings cannot become a man. And the being--the being I have in mind--cannot exist in the plural, you see? ...Perhaps he has already been born somewhere, in some corner of the galaxy, and soon he will have some childish enthusiasm that will set him putting out one star and lighting another. We will notice him after a while...'

'We already have,' Snow said sarcastically. 'Novas and supernovas. According to you they are candles on his altar.'

'If you're going to take what I say literally...'

...Snow asked abruptly:

'What gave you this idea of an imperfect god?'

'I don't know. It seems quite feasible to me. That is the only god I could imagine believing in, a god whose passion is not a redemption, who saves nothing, fulfills no purpose--a god who simply is.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.”
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

“I know only one thing. when i sleep, i know no fear, no, trouble no bliss. blessing on him who invented sleep. the common coin that purchases all things, the balance that levels shepherd and king, fool and wise man. there is only one bad thing about sound sleep. they say it closely resembles death.”
― Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris

“Heaven is not a place, and it's not a time. Heaven is being perfect.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

“پر كن پياله را
كاين آب آتشين
ديريست ره به حال خرابم نمي‌برد

اين جام‌ها كه در پي هم مي‌شوند
درياي آتش است كه ‌ريزم به كام خويش
گردآب مي‌ربايد و آبم نمي‌برد

من با سمند سركش و جادويي شراب
تا بيكران عالم پندار رفته‌ام
تا دشت پر ستاره‌ي انديشه‌هاي گرم
تا مرز ناشناخته‌ي مرگ و زندگي
تا كوچه باغ خاطره‌هاي گريز پا
تا شهر يادها
ديگر شراب هم جز تا كنار بستر خوابم نمي‌برد

هان اي عقاب عشق!
از اوج قله‌هاي مه آلود دوردست
پرواز كن به دشت غم‌انگيز عمر من
آنجا ببر مرا كه شرابم نمي برد
آن بي ستاره‌ام كه عقابم نمي برد

در راه زندگي
با اين همه تلاش و تمنا و تشنگي
با اينكه ناله مي‌كشم از دل كه :
آب ... آب ...
ديگر فريب هم به سرابم نمي برد

پر كن پياله را ”
― فریدون مشیری

“That's how life is, what it gives with one hand one day, it takes away with the other.”
― José Saramago, Death with Interruptions

“For an oracle says that when a man of brass or iron guards the State, it will be destroyed. Such is the tale; is there any possibility of making our citizens believe in it?”
― Plato, Plato: The Complete Works (31 Books)

“Deer recline in its shade;birds in multitudes gather to roost,darkening its dark-green canopy of leaves;troops of monkeys cling to the trunk;while hollows hum with insect-throngs;flowers are boldly kissed by honey-bees:Oh! What happiness its every limb showerson assemblages of various creatures. Such a tree deserves all praise,others only burden the Earth.”
― Vishnu Sharma, The Pancatantra

“Words have their own hierarchy, their own protocol, their own aristocratic titles, their own plebeian stigmas.”
― José Saramago, Death with Interruptions

“He speaks to Klamm, but is it Klamm? Isn’t it rather someone who merely resembles Klamm? Perhaps at the very most a secretary who is a little like Klamm and goes to great lengths to be even more like him and tries to seem important by affecting Klamm’s drowsy, dreamlike manner. That part of his being is easiest to imitate, many try to do so; as for the rest of his being, though, they wisely steer clear of it. And a man such as Klamm, who is so often the object of yearning and yet so rarely attained, easily takes on a variety of shapes in the imagination of people. For instance, Klamm has a village secretary here called Momus. Really? You know him? He too keeps to himself but I have seen him a couple of times. A powerful young gentleman, isn’t he? And so he probably doesn’t look at all like Klamm? And yet you can find people in the village who would swear that Momus is Klamm and none other than he. That’s how people create confusion for themselves. And why should it be any different at the Castle?”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Whether we like it or not, the one justification for the existence of all religions is death, they need death as much as we need bread to eat.”
― José Saramago, Death with Interruptions

“Be not defeated by the rain, Nor let the wind prove your better.
Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer.

Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy.
Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you.
Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear.

A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove's shade.

A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day.

If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth and nurse him to health.
If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden.
If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear.
If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues:
Go forth and beg them stop such a waste of effort and of spirit.

In times of drought, shed tears of sympathy.
In summers cold, walk in concern and empathy.

Stand aloof of the unknowing masses:
Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a "Great Man".

This is my goal, the person I strive to become.”
― Kenji Miyazawa, 雨ニモマケズ [Ame ni mo makezu]

“Negatives only have power over you when you react to them”
― John Kehoe

“When you reach a certain age, you're no longer the protagonist of your own actions: all you have left are the consequences of things you've already done.”
― Mario Levrero

“Зима у нас длинная, очень длинная и однообразная. Но мы там, внизу, не жалуемся, мы хорошо защищены от холодов. Ну, а потом придет и весна и лето, всему свое время, но, когда вспоминаешь, и весна и лето кажутся такими коротенькими, будто длились два дня, не больше, да и то в эти дни, даже в саму распрекрасную погоду, вдруг начинает падать снег.”
― Франц Кафка, Замок

“Official decisions are as elusive
as young girls.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Правда, от болезни и усталости даже крестьянские лица становятся утонченней.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“But no matter how far he flew, he didn’t get any closer to the sun.”
― Kenji Miyazawa, The Night Hawk Star

“Mother, recently I have discovered the one way in which human beings differ completely from other animals. Man has, I know, language, knowledge, principles, and social order, but don't all the other animals have them too, granted the difference of degree? Perhaps the animals even have religions. Man boasts of being the lord of all creation, but it would seem as if essentially he does not differ in the least from other animals. But, Mother, there was one way I thought of. Perhaps you won't understand. It's a faculty absolutely unique to man - having secrets. Can you see what I mean?”
― Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun

“In our lives we know joy, anger, sorrow, and a hundred other emotions, but these emotions altogether occupy a bare one per cent of our time. The remaining ninety-nine per cent is just living in waiting.”
― Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun