Berenice Quotes

“The realities of the world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn,—not the material of my every-day existence--but in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself.”
― Edgar Allen Poe

“Misery is manifold. The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching the wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of that arch, --as distinct too, yet as intimately blended. Overreaching the wide horizon as the rainbow! How is it that from beauty I have derived a type of unloveliness? --from the covenant of peace a simile of sorrow? But as, in ethics, evil is a consequence of good, so, in fact, out of joy is sorrow born. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of to-day, or the agonies which are have their origin in the ecstasies which might have been.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“In the strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with me had never been of the heart, and my passions always were of the mind.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Berenice

“Her locks an ancient lady gave
Her loving husband's life to save;
And men — they honored so the dame —
Upon some stars bestowed her name.

But to our modern married fair,
Who'd give their lords to save their hair,
No stellar recognition's given.
There are not stars enough in heaven.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary - With a Preface by the Author and a Short Biography of Ambrose Bierce

“Her locks an ancient lady gave
Her loving husband's life to save;
And men — they honored so the dame —
Upon some stars bestowed her name.
But to our modern married fair,
Who'd give their lords to save their hair,
No stellar recognition's given.
There are not stars enough in heaven.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary: The Complete Edition – 1911 edition, enriched with over 800 definitions left out from the original publications

“Sus ojos no tenían vida ni brillo y parecían sin pupilas, y esquivé involuntariamente su mirada vidriosa para contemplar los labios, finos y contraídos. Se entreabrieron, y en una sonrisa de expresión peculiar los dientes de la cambiada Berenice se revelaron lentamente a mis ojos. ¡Ojalá nunca los hubiera visto o, después de verlos, hubiese muerto!”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Berenice

“¡Los dientes! ¡Los dientes! Estaban aquí y allí y en todas partes, visibles y palpables, ante mí; largos, estrechos, blanquísimos, con los pálidos labios contrayéndose a su alrededor, como en el momento mismo en que habían empezado a distenderse.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Berenice

“Sin embargo, su recuerdo estaba repleto de horror, horror más horrible por lo vago, terror más terrible por su ambigüedad. Era una página atroz en la historia de mi existencia, escrita toda con recuerdos oscuros, espantosos, ininteligibles. Luché por descifrarlos, pero en vano, mientras una y otra vez, como el espíritu de un sonido ausente, un agudo y penetrante grito de mujer parecía sonar en mis oídos. Yo había hecho algo. ¿Qué era? Me lo pregunté a mí mismo en voz alta, y los susurrantes ecos del aposento me respondieron: ¿Qué era?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Berenice

“La desdicha es diversa. La desgracia cunde multiforme sobre la tierra. Desplegada sobre el ancho horizonte como el arco iris, sus colores son tan variados como los de este y también tan distintos y tan íntimamente unidos.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Berenice

“The realities of the world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn, not the material of my every-day existence, but in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself.”
― Edgar Allen Poe

“In the strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with me, had never been of the heart, and my passions always were of the mind.”
― Edgar Allen Poe