Νικήτας Γκανάς > Νικήτας's Quotes

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
― Lao Tzu

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“So many books, so little time.”
― Frank Zappa

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“How odd it is that the Alpine republic has managed to make its products famous the world over but hasn’t produced many well-known citizens.”
― Diccon Bewes, Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money

“And in Bern there’s a physical reminder of his army’s presence: the street signs in the city centre are still in four different colours, a system used to help illiterate French troops find their quarters. In some streets signs are green on one side, yellow on the other; a little historical anomaly that modern tourists barely notice as they take photos.”
― Diccon Bewes, Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money

“The Swiss are rich but like to hide it, reserved yet determined to introduce themselves to everyone, innovative but resistant to change, liberal enough to sanction gay partnerships but conservative enough to ban new minarets. And they invented a breakfast cereal that they eat for supper. Privacy is treasured but intrusive state control is tolerated; democracy is king, yet the majority don’t usually vote; honesty is a way of life but a difficult past is reluctantly talked about; and conformity is the norm, yet red shoes are bizarrely popular.

It is perhaps no surprise that the Swiss are contradictory, given how divided their country is. Since its earliest days Switzerland has faced geographic, linguistic, religious and political divisions that would have destroyed other countries at birth. Those divisions have been bridged, though not without bloodshed, but Switzerland remains as paradoxical as its people. While modern technology drives the economy, some fields are still harvested with scythes (all the hilly landscape’s fault); it’s a neutral nation yet it exports weapons to many other countries; it has no coastline but won sailing’s America’s Cup and has a merchant shipping fleet equal in size to Saudi Arabia’s. As for those national stereotypes, well, not all the cheese has holes, cuckoo clocks aren’t Swiss and the trains don’t always run exactly on time.”
― Diccon Bewes, Swiss Watching: Inside Europe's Landlocked Island

“- a textbook of didactic clarity and compelling persuasiveness.
- gloomy radiation.
- all were determined to die of old age.
- angelic arousal.
- fundamental humanitarian feeling.
- he felt forgotten, not with the reparable forgetfulness of the heart but with the hard and irrevocable forgetfulness, which he knew very well because it was the forgetfulness of death.
- his dedication to work and his good judgment, when adjusting his interests, made him earn more money.
- had defeated the devil in a duel.
- recital of dignity, personal charm and good manners.
- had been hardened by the thanklessness of his profession.
- it was a (like) whirlwind of health.
- relentless determination.
- had been banished to the attic of her memory.
- his radiant self-control.
- looked like a miscarriage next to him.
- he had well understood that the secret to a good old age was nothing more than an honest deal with solitude.
- they realized that the smell of the beautiful Remedios continued to torment men beyond death, until their bones turned to dust
- was a mark of caste, a stamp of immunity.
- she saw the inconsolable eyes that sealed her heart like red-hot coals of compassion.
- unable to give an answer that was not a masterpiece of simplicity
- where even the loftiest birds of memory could not reach her.
- there was an unbearable smell of rotten memories.
- the corrosive war of eternal postponements.
- sank into the miserable defeat of old age.
- rigid discipline.
- he was straight, serious and had a thoughtful tone, a Saracen sadness, he had a mournful autumn-colored glow on his face.
- she was so clouded with resentment.
- he thought his boldness was industriousness, his greed self-denial and his stubbornness perseverance.
- she had discovered within her a thoughtful and righteous rage.
- time tripped and had accidents and could break into pieces and leave an eternal piece of itself in a room.
- Her heart, full of collected ashes, which had withstood the strongest blows of daily reality, was torn to pieces by the first attack of nostalgia.
- his wife's decision came from a nostalgic delusion.
- and the inhabitants, oppressed by memories.
- for a man like him, imprisoned in written reality.
- her will to resist was shattered by overwhelming impatience.
- his mania for the written word was a mixture of true respect and gossipy irreverence. not even his own manuscripts were spared from this dualism.
- boredom in love had unexplored possibilities, richer than lust.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

“Η λογοτεχνία ήταν το μεγαλύτερο παιχνίδι που είχε επινοηθεί ποτέ για να κοροιδεύει κανείς τους ανθρώπους”
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude