431 books
—
471 voters
“He is one of my few friends who did not laugh when he knew I was recording the birthdays of everyone I knew. To him it seemed logical enough, providing as it did a string of stopping points along the path of a year, sites where you could appreciate who you knew, how many people called you friend.”
― What Is the What
― What Is the What
“One thing I don't get about you," Ivan said,
"is to what extent you feel American or Turkish. How is it for you when you're in Turkey? Do you feel different?"
"I feel like a kid."
"Like a little girl, huh? It must be really terrible for you."
"I learned Turkish when I was three, so I don't know enough words. I can't talk about anything," I said. "How about you? Do you feel differently when you're in Hungary?"
Ivan pushed his paper cup in various directions, as if it were a king under check. He said that in Hungary people were more honest. If they thought you were doing something stupid, they let you know right away. Americans were polite and remote, as if there were bubbles separating everyone. "You can't tell if someone really likes you," he said. "You can't get close. There are all these blocks.”
― The Idiot
"is to what extent you feel American or Turkish. How is it for you when you're in Turkey? Do you feel different?"
"I feel like a kid."
"Like a little girl, huh? It must be really terrible for you."
"I learned Turkish when I was three, so I don't know enough words. I can't talk about anything," I said. "How about you? Do you feel differently when you're in Hungary?"
Ivan pushed his paper cup in various directions, as if it were a king under check. He said that in Hungary people were more honest. If they thought you were doing something stupid, they let you know right away. Americans were polite and remote, as if there were bubbles separating everyone. "You can't tell if someone really likes you," he said. "You can't get close. There are all these blocks.”
― The Idiot
“They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends. ”
― Far From the Madding Crowd
― Far From the Madding Crowd
“The studio had a glass wall overlooking the pool, where a scuba lesson was in session. How did all those people know that they wanted to know how to scuba dive?”
― The Idiot
― The Idiot
“I kept thinking about the uneven quality of time—the way it was almost always so empty, and then with no warning came a few days that felt so dense and alive and real that it seemed indisputable that that was what life was, that its real nature had finally been revealed. But then time passed and unthinkably grew dead again, and it turned out that that fullness had been an aberration and might never come back. I wanted to write about it while I could still feel it and see it around me, while the teacups still seemed to be trembling. Suddenly it occurred to me that maybe the point of writing wasn’t just to record something past but also to prolong the present, like in One Thousand and One Nights, to stretch out the time until the next thing happened and, just as I had that thought, I saw a dark shape behind the frosted glass and heard a knock on the door.”
― The Idiot
― The Idiot
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