M. J. Cristea > M. J.'s Quotes

“Moartea e o ipoteza pana in momentul cand omul se pomeneste in bratele ei, fara nici o speranta de intoarcere.”
― Liviu Rebreanu, Adam și Eva

“Câţi oameni sunt într-un singur om? Tot atâţia câte stele sunt cuprinse într-o picătură de rouă sub cerul cel limpede al nopţii. Şi, dac-ai mări acea picătură, să te poţi uita în adâncul ei, ai revedea toate miile de stele ale cerului, fiecare — o lume, fiecare cu ţări şi popoare, fiecare cu istoria evilor ei scrisă pe ea — un univers într-o picătură trecătoare.”
― Mihai Eminescu, Sărmanul Dionis

“Citeste! Numai citind mereu, mintea ta va deveni un laborator nesfarstit de idei si imaginatii.”
― Mihai Eminescu

“Certainly the most destructive vice if you like, that a person can have. More than pride, which is supposedly the number one of the cardinal sins - is self pity. Self pity is the worst possible emotion anyone can have. And the most destructive. It is, to slightly paraphrase what Wilde said about hatred, and I think actually hatred's a subset of self pity and not the other way around - ' It destroys everything around it, except itself '.

Self pity will destroy relationships, it'll destroy anything that's good, it will fulfill all the prophecies it makes and leave only itself. And it's so simple to imagine that one is hard done by, and that things are unfair, and that one is underappreciated, and that if only one had had a chance at this, only one had had a chance at that, things would have gone better, you would be happier if only this, that one is unlucky. All those things. And some of them may well even be true. But, to pity oneself as a result of them is to do oneself an enormous disservice.

I think it's one of things we find unattractive about the american culture, a culture which I find mostly, extremely attractive, and I like americans and I love being in america. But, just occasionally there will be some example of the absolutely ravening self pity that they are capable of, and you see it in their talk shows. It's an appalling spectacle, and it's so self destructive. I almost once wanted to publish a self help book saying 'How To Be Happy by Stephen Fry : Guaranteed success'. And people buy this huge book and it's all blank pages, and the first page would just say - ' Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself - And you will be happy '. Use the rest of the book to write down your interesting thoughts and drawings, and that's what the book would be, and it would be true. And it sounds like 'Oh that's so simple', because it's not simple to stop feeling sorry for yourself, it's bloody hard. Because we do feel sorry for ourselves, it's what Genesis is all about.”
― Stephen Fry

“Fericirea adevărată e totdeauna o clipă, se gândi bolnavul, cu amintirea ei proaspătă în suflet. Mai multă n-ar putea îndura firea omului care, deseori, într-o viață de mulți ani, nu are norocul să întâlnească nici clipa aceasta, nici măcar să se apropie de ea.”
― Liviu Rebreanu, Adam și Eva

“Inevitably, with memory comes pain.”
― Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men

“this slow dissipation, the gradual abandonment of all expectations, a defeat that had killed everything without a battle.”
― Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men

“It was only at the moment of death that they admitted their despair and rushed headlong towards the great, dark doors that I opened for them, leaving the sterile plain where their lives had gone awry without a backward glance, eager to embrace another world which perhaps didn’t exist, but they preferred nothingness to the futile succession of empty days.”
― Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men