Trevanian > Quotes

“Irony is Fate's most common figure of speech.”
― Trevanian

“It was not their irritating assumption of equality that annoyed Nicholai so much as their cultural confusions. The Americans seemed to confuse standard of living with quality of life, equal opportunity with institutionalized mediocrity, bravery with courage, machismo with manhood, liberty with freedom, wordiness with articulation, fun with pleasure - in short, all of the misconceptions common to those who assume that justice implies equality for all, rather than equality for equals.”
― Trevanian, Shibumi

“Hana: What on Earth is a 'barbeque'? Hel: A primitive tribal ritual featuring paper plates, elbows, flying insects, encrusted meat, hush puppies, and beer. Hana: I daren't ask what a 'hush puppy' is. Hel: Don't.”
― Trevanian, Shibumi

“As you know, shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as wabi, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming. And in the personality of a man, it is . . . how does one say it? Authority without domination? Something like that.”
― Trevanian

“Ripe for romance? Is that not only the self-conscious and sensitive young man's way of saying he was heavy with passion? Is not, perhaps, romance only the fiction by means of which the tender-minded negotiate their lust?”
― Trevanian, The Summer of Katya

“— Шибуми, сър? — Николай познаваше думата, но само когато се използваше за градини и архитектура, където означаваше ненатрапчива красота. — В какъв смисъл използвате понятието, сър?

— О, неясно. И предполагам, неправилно. Глупав опит да се обясни неизразимо качество. Както знаеш, при шибуми трябва да има едно пречистване на ниските, баналните мисли. Това е едно изразяване — толкова правилно, че няма нужда да е смело, толкова трогателно, че няма нужда да е красиво, толкова вярно, че няма нужда да е истинско. Шибуми е разбиране, не познание. Красноречиво мълчание. В поведението това е скромност без срамежливост. В изкуството, където духът на шибуми приема формата на саби, това е елегантна простота, изразителна яснота. Във философията, където шибуми се явява като ваби, това е душевно спокойствие, което не е пасивно; това е да бъдеш, без да те е страх да станеш. А в личността на един човек, това е… как може да се каже? Авторитет без доминиране? Нещо такова.”
― Trevanian, Shibumi

“Short first pregnancies do not occasion criticism in our valley, for it is widely known that the good Lord often makes first pregnancies mercifully brief as His reward to the girl for having preserved her chastity until marriage. Subsequent pregnancies, however, usually run their full terms, which only makes sense, as the very fact that they are not first pregnancies means that the mother was not chaste at the moment of conception.”
― Trevanian