David Mazzucchelli > Quotes

“To live (as I understand it) is to exist within a conception of time.

But to remember is to vacate the very notion of time.

Every memory, no matter how remote its subject, takes place 'Now,' at the moment it's called to the mind.

The more something is recalled, the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience.

Because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Life is stressful,dear. That's why they say "rest in peace.”
― David Mazzucchelli

“How can we call death-about which we know nothing- the opposite of life, when we barely comprehend life itself?”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“What if reality (as perceived) were simply an extension of the self? Wouldn't that color the way each individual experiences the world?”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Yes here's to the founding fathers—slave-owners, British citizens who didn't want to pay taxes...”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“There are just two things you need to fix here: the interior and the exterior.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“How can i hope to succeed when surrounded by flaccid imaginations and puny minds when my head.. My head is filled with NIETZCHE?”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Me? I like wearing a condom. It means I'm having sex. I already spend most of my time NOT wearing one. It's like a tuxedo - I enjoy putting one on for special occasions.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Life is stressful, dear. That's why they say "rest in peace".”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Anything that's not functional is merely decorative.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“But why must choices always lie along a linear spectrum with two poles instead of say among a sphere of possibilities”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Every memory no matter how remote its subject takes place "now " at the moment it's called up in the mind. The more something is recalled the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience because every memory is a re-creation not a playback.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“The way the function dictates the form... elegant lines... nothing extraneous... this shoe perfectly expresses the essence of shoeness.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“To live as I understand it is to exist within a conception of time. But to remember is to vacate the very notion of time.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“...by choosing two aspects of a subject that appear to be in opposition, each can be examined in light of the other in order to better illuminate the entire subject, as long as one doesn't mistake the system for reality.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“if the creator of the universe is spending all his time watching you, it must surly be because he loves you.”
― David Mazzucchelli

“So...what are you working on now?"

“Right now, an essay about Don Quixote.”

“One of my favorite books.”

“Mine too.”

“What’s the gist?”

“It has to do with the authorship of the books.”

“Is there any question?”

“I mean the book inside the book Cervantes wrote, the one he imagined he was writing.”

“Ah.”

“Cervantes claims he is not the author, that the original text was in Arabic.”

“Right. It’s an attack on make-believe, so he must claim it was real.”

“Precisely. Therefore, the story has to be written by an eyewitness yet Cid Hamete Benengeli, the acknowledged author, never makes an appearance. So who is he? Sancho Panza is of course the witness – illiterate, but with a gift for language. He dictated the story to the barber and the priest, Don Quixote’s friends. They had the manuscript translated into Arabic. Cervantes found the translation and had it rendered back into Spanish. The idea was to hold up a mirror to Don Quixote’s madness so that when he finally read the book himself, he would see the error of his ways. But Don Quixote, in my view, was no mad. He only pretended to be. He engineered the collaboration, and the translation from Arabic back into Spanish. I like to imagine Cervantes hiring Don Quixote in disguise to decipher the story of Don Quixote.”

“But why did Quixote go to such lengths?”

“He wanted to test the gullibility of man. To what extent would people tolerate blasphemies, lies, and nonsense if they gave them amusement? The answer: to any extent. For the book is still amusing us today. That’s finally all anyone wants out of a book. To be amused.”
― David Mazzucchelli, City of Glass

“Me? I like wearing a condom. It means I'm having sex. I already spend most of my time NOT wearing one. It's like a tuxedo - I enjoy putting one on for special occasions. ”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“I have two kinds of students: those who can't draw, and those who can't think. And the amount of confidence they have seems to be inversely proportional to their talent.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“if the creator of the universe is spending all his time watching you, it must surely be because he loves you”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Every memory, no matter how remote its subject, takes place "now",at the moment it's called up in the mind. The more something is recalled, the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience, because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback.”
― David Mazzucchelli

“Aristophanes, in Plato's "Symposium", is purported to suggest that human form was not always as it is today:

Originally, humans were spherical, with four arms, four legs, and two faces on either side of a single head. (In evolutionary terms, it's hard to see the advantage of this construction.) Such was their hubris that they dared to challenge the gods themselves. Zeus, in his wisdom, split the upstarts in two, each half becoming a distinct entity.

Since then, men and women have been running around in a panic, searching for their lost counterparts, in a desire to be whole again.

(Plato makes clear what he thinks of this theory by having Socrates casually dismiss it. We should at least give some credit to Aristophanes for originality.)”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“Vivre (tel que je l'entends) c'est exister dans une certaine conception du temps.

Mais se rappeler c'est se défaire de la notion du temps.

Chaque souvenir, aussi lointain soit-il, a lieu "maintenant", au moment où il apparaît dans l'esprit.

Plus on se souvient d'une chose, plus le cerveau a la possibilité d'affiner l'expérience originale,

car un souvenir ne se visionne pas, il se recrée.”
― Mazzucchelli David

“Svako sjećanje , koliko god mu sadržaj dalek, događa se ''sada'', u trenutku kad ga um prizove. Što se češće prisjećamo, to um ima više prilike prepravljati izvorno iskustvo, jer svako je prisjećanje ponovno stvaranje, a ne reprodukcija.”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp

“I like to come out here from time to time, just to be, like, blown away by the sheer physicality of this place, y'know?”
― David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp