Quotes from Mika Waltari

Kdo si postaví d?m, je jeho otrokem. Kdo obdÄ›lává p?du, je jejím otrokem.

it is not your words that persuade me. They are as the tedious buzzing of flies in my ear.

K dlouhému vÄ›ku se druží ?asto zkalení zraku a sklon považovat dávnÄ›jÅ¡í doby za lepÅ¡í dneÅ¡ních.

bliss, mean, wretched, and mingled with wormwood

was understandable

As a man I had to provide my own purpose in life, and probably nothing is more difficult. It is easier to beget children and to thrust the responsibility on them while washing one's own hands.

Doubtless you would prefer a gayer woman than myself. But I would be gay—I would do all you wish so as not to disappoint you, and I would give you as much pleasure as I could.

Doubtless you would prefer a gayer woman than myself. But I would be gay—

Taistelu on alkanut. Oletko koskaan kokenut ihanampaa päivää.

Ed allora mi rivedevo per le polverose strade di Babilonia con Minea al mio fianco

No hay ciertamente nadie, por pobre que sea, cuya infancia no encierre algún destello de júbilo y de luz al evocarla en sus viejos días

En su maldad, el hombre es más cruel y más endurecido que el cocodrilo del río y corazón es más duro que la piedra

Los hombres revolotean alrededor de la mentira como las moscas alrededor de un panal de miel

nothing angers a woman more than the discovery that in the relationship between man and man there are things that women can never understand.

They detest you only because you stand so high above other men, and that is something that mediocre souls can never endure. And yet in each one of us lies the latent faculty of surpassing others. Of that I am sure.

who rightly values happiness and friendship before they're gone?

For the sake of a woman's rippling laugh the goddess of history will tomorrow turn a fresh page in her great book.

Remember that only stupidity is punished. Not lechery, nor greed, nor betrayal, nor apostasy, but stupidity alone. And truth is the worst stupidity, for only the feeble-minded thinks he has found truth.

In my madness I fancied that deep love meant warmth and kindness between two people, and some mutual solace in the hideous loneliness that is the lot of each one of us.

Syksy on tullut, lehdet ovat lakastuneet, sinut ja minut luotiin elämään ajan syksyä. Kaikki ajatukset on ajateltu loppuun, mitään uutta ei enää voi tapahtua, sydämet ovat väsyneet maailmaan.

Ella me miró y el tiempo se detuvo, el Sol dejó de girar alrededor de la tierra y el pasado se fundió con el futuro; no existió sino el presente, ese instante de vida que ni el tiempo más celoso podía arrebatar

Even were the time to come when there would be neither poor nor rich, yet there will always be wise and stupid, sly and simple, for so there have ever been and ever will be. The strong man sets his foot on the neck of the weakling; the cunning man runs off with the simpleton's purse and sets the dunce to work for him. Man is a crooked dealer and even his virtue is imperfect. Only he who lies down never to rise again is wholly good.

Tuhat kirjaa luettuaan ihminen alkaa aavistaa masentavan totuuden. Kymmenentuhatta kirjaa tekee hänet surulliseksi

So foolish is the heart of man that he ever puts his hope in the future, learning nothing from his past errors and fancying that tomorrow must be better than today.