Quotes from Meša Selimovi?

Što ima više svetih skloništa iza kojih se ljudi kriju, sve je više prostora za ljudsko zlo. ?ovjek uvijek izmisli razlog izvan sebe, da bi se oslobodio odgovornosti i krivice.

What is the purpose of piety if there are no temptations to resist? Man is not God, his strength is the ability to restrain his own nature, so I thought, and if he has nothing to restrain, then what are his merits?

Ova zena je cudljiva, vjeciti april, vesela je pa tmurna, pricljiva pa malorjeka, svakog jutra ustaje i na lijevu i na desnu nogu pa je ne odredjuje dan vec trenutak, slucajno je ovdje, kivna kad se sjeti da je mogla biti na drugom mjestu, razdragana kad pomisli da ce biti. Obicna je samo kad zaboravi.

People easily forget what they're not proud of.

Prijateljstvo se ne stvara, ono nastaje, kao i ljubav.

Svijet ne spava, svijet nikada sav ne spava, ?ini mi se da nisam sam.

Od Bosanca se može svemu nadati. Godinama živi kao pametan ?ovjek, a onda sve u?ini da bi dokazao da je budala.

We should kill our pasts with each passing day. Blot them out, so that they will not hurt. Each present day could thus be endured more easily, it would not be measured against what no longer exists. As things our, spectres mix with our lives so that there is neither pure memory nor pure life. They clash and try to strangle each other, continually.

no one could take her away from me alive; I held her pinned to the ground in that beastly grip. The river became silent; the only sound was that of bells within me, unknown and unrung until then, all of my bells, as if they were sounding an alarm. People would gather around; they did not concern me; they did not exist. Oh, my dream, which has become a victim.

I caught myself feeling that vile need for others to be grateful to us, to show themselves as small and dependent, because that is what creates our favor, nurtures it, and heightens the importance of our deeds and kindness.

Pravi muškarac je kao vuk. Ili je samotnjak ili je ve?no sa jednom vu?icom. Jurnjavu za ovcama ionako obavlja ovan.

And if you'd been healthy and happy, you wouldn't have come home?" "When everything is lost a man seeks refuge, as if he were returning to his mother's womb." "And after that?" "After that he forgets. He's driven to it by his restlessness. He wants to be what he was not, or what he was. He runs away from his fortune and looks for another.

Verovala sam u nešto. U život, u tebe, u decu, u nešto nepoznato što ?e biti lepo, u neku nadu, svejedno u šta. Starost je ružna najviše zato što nam uzme sposobnost da u nešto verujemo.

Ne voliš ljude? -Ljudi su kona?no izdijeljeni, niko nam ne može pomo?i, ponekad se pravimo da to ne znamo, ili zaboravljamo jer nam izgleda nemogu?e, ne mirimo se ali je tako. Neka idu do ?avola. -Ni život ne voliš? -Ostavi me na miru! Šta ho?eš da volim? Slaganje varke na varku, davno sam negdje pro?itao. I smijao se. Sad se ne smijem. Nije veseo taj tvoj život.

We should kill our pasts with each passing day. Blot them out, so that they will not hurt. Each present day could thus be endured more easily, it would not be measured against what no longer exists. As things are, spectres mix with our lives so that there is neither pure memory nor pure life. They clash and try to strangle each other, continually

?utala je, pribijena uz mene, kao da traži zaštitu. Preboljevala je što su je njeni napustili. Navikavala se na mene. Sad nikoga nemamo, ni ona ni ja, ho?emo li biti dovoljni jedno drugome?

Pri?a o životu: ako se tužimo kako nam je teško, klonu?emo; ako kažemo životu: izdrža?u, ne?es me slomiti, muka postaje lakša.

If anyone considers this strange, or even unlikely, I can only say that the truth is something very strange, and we convince ourselves that it does not exist because we are ashamed of it, as we are of a leprous child, although in this manner the truth is not rendered less alive or less truthful. We usually beautify our thoughts and hide the vipers that slither within us. If we hide them, do they not exist?

Nai?e jedan trenutak kad ?ovjek postane kona?no svjestan gubitka, kad više ne može da bude hrabar. Ili kad može da bude samo hrabar.

A uvijek izgleda lijepo ono sto se nije ostvarilo.

But the problem is that you don't dare to think about anything. You're afraid; you don't know where your thoughts might lead you. Everything inside you is confused. You keep your eyes closed and stay on the old path. They brought you here, I don't know why and it doesn't concern me, but you won't accept my explanations of human guilt. You think it's a joke. Maybe it is, but maybe one could develop quite a nice philosophical idea out of it

when people settle their accounts, guilt is easy to find, and justice is the right to do whatever we think must be done, and therefore justice can be anything.

Ostala su mu za opravdanje i utjehu samo tri razloga: sudbina koja je ja?a od nas, njegovo pravovremeno upozorenje da se ?uvam ?avola u sebi, i nada da ?u mu na kraju re?i grubu rije?. Sa?uva?e je u srcu kao hamajliju, u sje?anju kao lijek, u savjesti kao opravdanje. (…) Ali mu ne dam zadovoljstvo da se opere mojom grubom rije?i, toliko nije zaslužio.

The emperor, as the story went, received as a gift some wondrous glass dishes. He liked the gifts very much, but smashed them all nonetheless. "Why? Are they not beautiful?" he was asked. "Precisely because of that," he answered. "They are so beautiful that it would be hard for me to lose them. And with time they would break, one by one. And I would be sorrier than I am now.