Being There Quotes

“Life is a state of mind.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“- Growth has its season. There are spring and summer, but there are also fall and winter. And then spring and summer again. As long as the roots are not severed, all is well and all be well.”
― Jerzy Kosinski, Being There

“In a garden, things grow . . . but first, they must wither; trees have to lose their leaves in order to put forth new leaves, and to grow thicker and stronger and taller. Some trees die, but fresh saplings replace them. Gardens need a lot of care. But if you love your garden, you don’t mind working in it, and waiting. Then in the proper season you will surely see it flourish.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“No one likes a dying man, Chauncey, because few know what death is. All we know is the terror of it.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“if you love your garden, you don’t mind working in it, and waiting. Then in the proper season you will surely see it flourish.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“What about the war?' the young woman sitting on Chance's left said, leaning close to him.

'The war? Which war?' said Chance. 'I've seen many wars on TV.'

'Alas,' the woman said, 'in this country, when we dream of reality television wakes us. To millions the war, I suppose, is just another TV program. But out there, at the front, real men are giving their lives.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“There were innumerable selves that he evoked in her.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“It was Sunday. Chance was in the garden. He moved slowly, dragging the green hose from one path to the next, carefully watching the flow of water. Very gently he let the stream touch every plant, every flower, every branch of the garden. Plants were like people; they needed care to live, to survive their diseases, and to die peacefully.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“توی باغ، هر چیزی رشد می‌کند... اما قبل از آن پژمرده و خشک می‌شوند، درخت‌ها باید برگ‌هایشان را از دست بدهند تا برگ‌های جدید دربیاورند و ضخیم‌تر، قوی‌تر و بلندتر شوند.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“He leaned across the table toward Skrapinov. ‘When we first met during World War II ,’ he said, ‘you and I were dressed in soldiers’ uniforms, fighting the common enemy, the cruelest enemy in the annals of our nations’ histories. Sharing literary influences is one thing, sharing blood another.’
Skrapinov attempted a smile. ‘But , Mr. Gaufridi,’ he said, ‘you speak of the time of war, many years ago ― another era altogether. Today, our uniforms and decorations are on display in museums. Today we … we are soldiers of peace.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“In addition, he had a rare first edition of Krylov’s Fables, with Krylov’s own notes handwritten on many of the pages, inserted into Gardiner’s package. The volume had been requisitioned from the private collection of a recently arrested Jewish member of the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“We welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, yet we are upset by the seasons of our economy! How”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“He’s a fine man, with a sense of justice nicely contained by the law and an excellent judgment of both the pulse and purse of the electorate.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“A gardener! Isn’t that the perfect description of what a real businessman is? A person who makes a flinty soil productive with the labor of his own hands, who waters it with the sweat of his own brow, and who creates a place of value for his family and for the community”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“In this colored world of television, gardening was the white cane of a blind man. By changing the channel he could change himself.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“And yet, with all its life, even at the peak of its bloom, the garden was its own graveyard. Under every tree and bush lay rotten trunks and disintegrated and decomposing roots. It was hard to know which was more important: the garden’s surface or the graveyard from which it grew and into which it was constantly lapsing. For”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“Chance became only an image for millions of real people. They would never know how real he was, since his thinking could not be televised. And to him, the viewers existed only as projections of his own thought, as images. He would never know how real they were, since he had never met them and did not know what they thought.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“Of all the manifold things there were in all the world—trees, grass, flowers, telephones, radios, elevators—only TV constantly held up a mirror to its own neither solid nor fluid face.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“Many of us forget that nature and society are one! Yes, though we have tried to cut ourselves off from nature, we are still part of it. Like nature, our economic system remains, in the long run, stable and rational, and that’s why we must not fear to be at its mercy.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“A gardener! Isn’t that the perfect description of what a real businessman is?”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“Facing the cameras with their unsensing triple lenses pointed at him like snouts, Chance became only an image for millions of real people. They would never know how real he was, since his thinking could not be televised. And to him, the viewers existed only as projections of his own thought, as images. He would never know how real they were, since he had never met them and did not know what they thought.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“The thought that he might have to leave did not upset him; he knew that eventually he would have to go but that, as on TV, what would follow next was hidden; he knew the actors on the new program were unknown. He did not have to be afraid, for everything that happened had its sequel, and the best that he could do was to wait patiently for his own forthcoming appearance.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There

“Chance waited patiently until she stopped.”
― Jerzy Kosiński, Being There