Central Europe Quotes

“I have had my mother's wing of my genetic ancestry analyzed by the National Geographic tracing service and there it all is: the arrow moving northward from the African savannah, skirting the Mediterranean by way of the Levant, and passing through Eastern and Central Europe before crossing to the British Isles. And all of this knowable by an analysis of the cells on the inside of my mouth.

I almost prefer the more rambling and indirect and journalistic investigation, which seems somehow less… deterministic.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“No one believes that the world can come to an end, therefore no one believes it can be saved.”
― Péter Zilahy, The Last Window-Giraffe: A Picture Dictionary for the over Fives

“If the US is a human melting pot, then Eastern Europe is a scrap yard.”
― Péter Zilahy, The Last Window-Giraffe: A Picture Dictionary for the over Fives

“It’s not easy to be God.”
― Péter Zilahy, The Last Window-Giraffe: A Picture Dictionary for the over Fives

“Unlike exotic fruit or fancy cars, democracy is best if it is grown locally. It may take root in the common desire of the people who choose to adopt it, but it cannot be imposed from the outside.”
― Anna Porter, The Ghosts of Europe: Central Europe's Past and Uncertain Future

“How did we get from six degrees of separation to six feet?”
― Péter Zilahy

“Looking at the Universe, you cannot help noticing that the entertainment aspect greatly supersedes the educational value.”
― Péter Zilahy, Harom plusz 1

“Take Tom Jones and mix him with Enrico Caruso, the Italian tenor-cum-castrato singer. Then add tons of pathetic love songs, faked sex appeal and musical kleptomania focusing on Western hits from the 1970s. Spice it up with a political flexibility rare even for Central European standards and a personal status close to that of the Pope. What do you get? Karel Gott, Czech pop music's most mega-super, long-lasting and brightest star.”
― Terje B. Englund, The Czechs in a Nutshell

“Logically, when Maestro Gott some years ago, after an especially cruel critic had compared him to "a zombie who causes acute depression to innocent radio listeners", decided to stop performing in protest, the situation was considered so grave that the Minister of Culture himself went to console the deeply insulted star.”
― Terje B. Englund, The Czechs in a Nutshell

“You cannot imagine being a child, because for that you have to grow up.”
― Péter Zilahy, The Last Window Giraffe - Hari-hari Terakhir Sang Diktator