Quotes By Author: Vladimir Bartol

“Всички искаха да станат мои последователи. От този необикновен успех ме обзе ужас. Нагледно видях каква сила има вярата и колко лесно е да я събудиш у хората. Само трябва да знаеш малко повече от онези, дето ти вярват. След това чудесата се правят лесно.”

“I had just vividly demonstrated to myself what a tremendous force faith is, and how easy it is to awaken. You just need to know a little bit more than the ones who are supposed to believe. Then it’s easy to work miracles.”

“ثمة شىء ما آخر أود أن أذكرك به عزيزي. لقد أقسمت لي ذات مرة أنك بعد كل ما خبرت في الحياة لم تعد تؤمن بأي شىء. وأجبتك إن حياتي ودراساتي قد أوصلاني للنتيجة نفسها، وسألتك ماذا عساه يفعل من أدرك أن الحقيقة تستحيل على الإدراك وبالتالي لا وجود لها؟ أتذكر بم أجبتني؟””أتذكر يا ابن الصباح. قلت شيئا ما مثل ‘إن أدرك امرئ أن كل ما يدعوه الآخرون سعادة وحب وفرح ليست سوى حسابات خاطئة أساسها فرضية زائفة، سيشعر بفراغ رهيب بداخله. وإن الشىء الوحيد الذي قد يحرره من جموده هذا هو أن يقامر بوجهه ووجوه الآخرين. من يمكنه فعل هذا مسموحا له بكل شىء.”

“There’s one other thing I’d like to remind you of, my dear. There’ve been many times when you’ve sworn to me that after all that life has dealt you, it was no longer possible for you to believe in anything. I replied that both life and my studies had led me to the same conclusion. I asked you, ‘What is a person permitted, once he’s realized that truth is unattainable and consequently doesn’t exist for him?’ Do you remember your answer?””I do, ibn Sabbah. I said something like this: ‘If a person realized that everything people call happiness, love and joy was just a miscalculation based on a false premise, he’d feel a horrible emptiness inside. The only thing that could rouse him from his paralysis would be to gamble with his own face and the face of others. The person capable of that would be permitted anything.”

“That’s for the best. Otherwise they might realize they’re in prison. It can’t be helped. You women are used to harems and prisons. A person can spend his whole life between four walls. If he doesn’t think or feel that he’s a prisoner, then he’s not a prisoner. But then there are people for whom the whole planet is a prison, who see the infinite expanse of the universe, the millions of stars and galaxies that remain forever inaccessible to them. And that awareness makes them the greatest prisoners of time and space.”