Digna

“Every Greek, man, woman, and child, has to two Greeks inside. We even have technical terms for them. They are a part of us, as inevitable as the fact that we all write poetry and the fact that every single one of us thinks that he knows everything that there is to know. We are all hospitable to strangers, we all are nostalgic for something, our mothers all treat their grown sons like babies, our sons all treat their mothers a sacred and beat their wives, we all hate solitude, we all try to find out from a stranger whether or not we are related, we all use every long word we know as often as we possibly can, we all go out for a walk in the evening so that we can look over each others' fences, we all think that we are equal to the best. Do you understand?"
The captain was perplexed, "You didn't tell me about the two Greeks inside every Greek."
"I didn't? Well, I must have wandered off the point.”
― Louis de Bernières, Corelli’s Mandolin

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
― Mark Twain

“Es neprotu ne pareizu klavierspēli, ne dzīves spēli, nekad, nekad neesmu to pratis, vienmēr esmu bijis pārāk steidzīgs, vienmēr pārāk nepacietīgs, vienmēr noticis kaut kas neparedzēts, vienmēr spēle pārtrūkusi... Bet kurš gan prot pareizi spēlēt, un, ja arī prot, tad ko tas viņam līdz? Vai lielā tumsa tāpēc ir mazāk tumša, vai neatbildami jautājumi tāpēc kļuvuši mazāk bezcerīgi, vai izmisums par mūžīgo nepietiekamību tāpēc ir mazāk sāpīgs, un vai dzīvi tāpēc ir iespējams izskaidrot un saņemt grožos un jāt kā rāmu zirgu, vai arī tā vienmēr ir kā varena bura, kas vētrā mūs nes, bet, kad mēs to gribam satvert, ielingo mūs ūdenī?
Reizēm manā priekšā paveras bedre, kas šķiet sniedzamies pat līdz zemes centram. Kas to aizpilda? Ilgas? Izmisums? Laime? Un kāda? Nogurums? Rezignācija? Nāve? Kādēļ es dzīvoju? Jā, kādēļ es dzīvoju?”
― Erich Maria Remarque, The Black Obelisk

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.”
― Louis de Bernières, Corelli’s Mandolin