E Che

“Искусство – это шепот истории, различимый поверх шума времени.”
― Джулиан Барнс, The Noise of Time

“Быть русским человеком - значит быть пессимистом; быть советским человеком - значит быть оптимистом. Поэтому выражение "Советская Россия" внутренне противоречиво.”
― Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time

“Being a hero was much easier than being a coward. To be a hero, you only had to be brave for a moment - when you took out the gun, threw the bomb, pressed the detonator, did away with the tyrant, and away with yourself as well. But to be a coward was to embark on a career that lasted a lifetime. You couldn't ever relax. You had to anticipate the next occasion when you would have to make excuses for yourself, dither, cringe, reacquaint yourself with the taste of rubber boots and the state of your own fallen, abject character. Being a coward required pertinacity, persistence, a refusal to change - which made it, in a way, a kind of courage.”
― Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time

“Music — good music, great music — had a hard, irreducible purity to it. It might be bitter and despairing and pessimistic, but it could never be cynical. If music is tragic, those with asses’ ears accuse it of being cynical. But when a composer is bitter, or in despair, or pessimistic, that still means he believes in something.”
― Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time