The Books of Jacob

by Olga Tokarczuk

In Międzybóż it was taught that in every person there is something good, even in those who strike you as the basest of villains. I started to understand that everyone has their own self-interest to protect, and that it is by this that they are guided, and that self-interest is no failing. There is nothing wrong in persons desiring the best for themselves. And when I began to think in this way about what each of us wants, I began to understand better.

The Polish language lacks the words for such questions. It has little experience with them, and knows little of theology. This is why every heresy in Poland has been unleavened and bland. In fact, no real heresy could ever come about in Polish. By its nature, the Polish language is obedient to every orthodoxy.

Even if you don’t care much for women, still it is useful to live with one.

‘When they ask you where you’re from and where you’re going, make yourselves deaf, give the impression that you cannot understand their words. Let them say of us: Those people are lovely and good, but they are simpletons and have no understanding. Accept this.’

The truth of the world is not matter, but the vibration of the sparks of light, that constant flickering that is located in every last thing. Remember what we were going after, I said unto them. Religions, laws, books and old customs have all been worn out. He who reads those old books and observes those laws and customs, it is as if he’s always facing backwards, and yet he must move forward. That is why he will stumble and ultimately fall. Since everything that has been has come from the side of death. A wise man, meanwhile, will look ahead, through death, as though this were merely a muslin curtain, and he will stand on the side of life.