Oh What a Paradise It Seems Quotes

“Nada le esperaba en su apartamento. No había ni una mujer, ni un hombre, ni un perro, ni un gato, y probablemente la cinta de su contestador automático estaría en blanco; además, el barrio donde vivía se había convertido en un lugar anónimo, como de tránsito, por lo que tampoco habría camareros o tenderos que le saludasen. Encendió la radio, pero la única música que pudo encontrar fue música disco, la música disco de esas discotecas que habían sido cerradas hacía tres años por tráfico de drogas o por impago de impuestos. Buscaba el recuerdo de algún lugar, alguna evidencia de que hubo un tiempo en que él había podido conectar, de una manera extremadamente creativa, con su mundo y con sus semejantes. Sentía la nostalgia de eso como si se tratara de un país que se hubiese visto obligado a abandonar.”
― John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise It Seems

“Another historical peculiarity of the place was the fact that its large mansions, those relics of another time, had not been reconstructed to serve as nursing homes for that vast population of comatose and the dying who were kept alive, unconscionably, through trailblazing medical invention.”
― John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise It Seems

“How long it had been since Sears had ducked his head into a basin of water and combed his hair with the hope of appearing attractive.”
― John Cheever, Oh What A Paradise It Seems

“What moved him was a sense of those worlds around us, our knowledge however imperfect of their nature, or sense of their possessing some grain of our past and of our lives to come. It was that most powerful sense of our being alive on the planet. It was the most powerful sense of how singular, in the vastness of creation, is the richness of our opportunity. The sense of that hour was of an exquisite privilege, the great benefice of living here and renewing ourselves with love. What a paradise it seemed!”
― John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise It Seems

“When he was young, brooks had seemed to speak to him in the tongues of men and angels. Now that he was an old man who spoke five or six languages - all of them poorly - the sound of water seemed to be the language of his nativity, some tongue he had spoken before his birth. Soft and loud, high and low, the sound of water reminded him of eavesdropping in some other room than where the party was.”
― John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise It Seems

“Lo que sentía por Eduardo era más parecido a la nostalgia que al espíritu aventurero del amor tradicional, pero no era un sentimiento menos fuerte. Comprendió que, si verdaderamente buscaba la pureza, nunca la encontraría en sí mismo.”
― John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise It Seems