The Bridge on the Drina Quotes

“كان العثمانيون يقولون: ثلاثة لا يمكن أن تبقى خافية (الحب، والسعال، والفقر).”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“Forgetfulness heals everything and song is the most beautiful manner of forgetting, for in song man feels only what he loves.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“Zaborav sve leči, a pesma je najlepši način zaborava, jer u pesmi se čovek seća samo onoga što voli.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“They entered there into the unconscious philosophy of the town; that life was an incomprehensible marvel, since it was incessantly wasted and spent, yet none the less it lasted and endured 'like the bridge on the Drina'.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“إن الشعب لا يتذكر ولا يروي إلا مايستطيع أن يفهمه وأن يحيله إلى أسطورة.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“They looked at the paper and saw nothing in those curving lines, but they knew and understood everything, for their geography was in their blood and they felt biologically their picture of the world.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“Tako se na kapiji, između neba, reke i brda, naraštaj za naraštajem učio da ne žali preko mere ono što mutna voda odnese. Tu je u njih ulazila nesvesna filozofija kasabe: da je život neshvatljivo čudo, jer se neprestano troši i osipa, a ipak traje i stoji čvrsto "kao na Drini ćuprija".”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“العظماء يموتون مرتين : مرة حين يبارحون هذه الأرض، وأخرى حين يزول ما شادوه من بناء.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“ليس هذا أوان الموت ،، بل أوان برهان المرء على قيمته.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“... u krvi im je saznanje da se pravi život sastoji od samih zatišja i da bi ludo i uzaludno bilo mutiti ta retka zatišja, tražeći neki drugi, čvršći i stalniji život koga nema.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“All at once, in his dangerous position, Ćorkan felt himself separated from his companions. He was now like some gigantic monster above them. His first steps were slow and hesitating. His heavy clogs kept slipping on the stones covered with ice. It seemed to him that his legs were failing him, that the depths below attracted him irresistibly, that he must slip and fall, that he was already falling. But his unusual position and the nearness of great danger gave him strength and hitherto unknown powers. [...] Instead of walking, he began to dance, he himself did not know how, as free as if he had been on a wide green field and not on that narrow and icy edge.
All of a sudden he felt himself light and skilful as a man sometimes in dreams. His heavy and exhausted body felt without weight. The drunken Ćorkan danced and floated above the depths as if on wings. [...] His dance bore him onward where his walk would never have borne him- No longer thinking of the danger of the possibility of a fall, he leapt from one leg to the other and sang with outstretched arms as accompanying himself on a drum.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“Ali nocu, tek nocu, kad ozive i planu nebesa, otvara se, beskrajnost i silna snaga toga sveta u kom se ziv covek gubi i ne moze da se priseti ni sama sebe ni kuda je posao ni sta hoce ni sta treba da radi. Tu se samo zivi, istinski, vedro i dugo; tu nema reci koje tesko obavezuju za ceo zivot, ni smrtonosnih obecanja ni bezizlaznih polozaja, sa kratkim rokom koji neumoljivo tece i istice, a sa smrcu ili sramotom kao jedinim izlazom na kraju. Da, tu nije kao u dnevnom zivotu, gde ono sto je jednom receno ostaje neporecivo, a obecano neizbezno. Tu je sve slobodno, beskrajno, bezimeno i nemo.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“But one thing could not happen; it could not be that great and wise men of exalted soul who would raise lasting buildings for the love of God, so that the world should be more beautiful and man live in it better and more easily, should everywhere and for all time vanish from this earth. Should they too vanish, it would mean that the love of God was extinguished and had disappeared from the world. That could not be.”
― Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina

“Но още на другия ден всичко е по старому, защото вишеградчани не обичат да помнят злото и не държат да имат грижи предварително.”
― Иво Андрич, The Bridge on the Drina

“Защо тая постоянна нужда на чужденците да градят и разграждат, да копаят и зидат, да правят и преправят, тоя вечен техен стремеж да предвидят действието на природните сили, да ги избягнат или надвият, това никой тук не можеше да разбере и оцени. Напротив, всички граждани, особено по-старите хора, виждат в това нещо нередно и лош знак. И ако зависеше от тях, Вишеград би изглеждал като всички ориенталски градчета. Което се пропука, ще се закърпи; което се килне, ще се подпре; но преди това и бз това никой без нужда или по план и предвиждане няма да си отваря работа, няма да бута темели и няма да променя от бога дадения вид на града.”
― Иво Андрич, The Bridge on the Drina

“Заедно с постоянното осветление новите власти въведоха на капията и чистота, по-скоро особен вид чистота, която отговаряше на техните схващания. Кори от плодове, семки от дини и черупки от лешници и орехи сега не оставаха с дни по каменните плочи, докато дъждът не ги измие или вятърът отнесе. Всяка сутрин специален общински човек метеше и чистеше всичко това. И то, най-сетне, никому не пречеше твърде, защото хората се примиряват с чистотата, дори когато не е възникнала от техните навици и нужди; разбира се, при условие да не бъдат заставени лично те да я спазват.”
― Иво Андрич, The Bridge on the Drina