Quotes from Elias Canetti

Savor powerlessness, after power, in every phase that matches it precisely; replace every old triumph with the new defeat; strengthen yourself on your weakness; win yourself back when so very lost.

In ogni essere umano si celano possibilità infinite, che non devono essere scatenate invano. Poiché è terribile quando l'intero uomo risuona di tanti echi, nessuno dei quali diventa una vera voce.

Del azar de lo leído depende lo que eres

A tormenting thought: as of a certain point, history was no longer real. Without noticing it, all mankind suddenly left reality; everything happening since then was supposedly not true; but we supposedly didn't notice. Our task would now be to find that point, and as long as we didn't have it, we would be forced to abide in our present destruction.

The crowd is the same everywhere, in all periods and cultures; it remains essentially the same among men of the most diverse origin, education and language. Once in being, it spreads with the utmost violence. Few can resist its contagion; it always wants to go on growing and there are no inherent limits to its growth. It can arise wherever people are together, and its spontaneity and suddenness are uncanny.

There is, in Kafka, a sort of sleep-worship; he regards sleep as a panacea.

For a good part of his [Kafka's] work consists of tentative steps toward perpetually changing possibilities of future. He does not acknowledge a single future, there are many; this multiplicity of futures paralyzes him and burdens his step.

Um Livreiro pode ser um Rei, mas um Rei jamais será um Livreiro.

Vom Zufall des Gelesenen hängt es ab, was du bist.

In the hierarchy of man's activities, eating was the lowest. Eating had become the object of a cult, but in fact it was but the preliminary to other, utterly contemptible motions. It occurred to him that he wanted to perform one of these too.

Contudo, o sentimento em relação às terras distantes permanece, e o interesse por elas jamais arrefece. Assim, o homem cavouca, insaciável, em épocas passadas e em culturas desconhecidas. A rigidez da própria existência aumenta, e essas épocas e culturas oferecem o instrumento inesgotável para a transformação.

Pero hoy la guerra ya no es guerra. Ya no es el hombre quien cuenta, la máquina lo es todo.

Ninguém, em si, eleva-se acima de seu tempo. Os sublimes não estão, absolutamente, entre nós - podem estar na Grécia antiga ou entre alguns bárbaros. Muita cegueira advém de se estar tão distante, mas o direito de fechar-se aos próprios sentidos não pode ser negado a ninguém. Seja-lhes concedido isso.

Fear thrives strongest; there is no telling how little we would be without having suffered fear. An intrinsic characteristic of humanity is the tendency to give in to fear. No fear is lost, but its hiding places are a riddle. Perhaps, of all things, fear is the one that changes least.

La promesa de la inmortalidad basta para poner en pie una religión.

Ionako ne postoji oskudica u osrednjim glavama.

Slepilo je oružje protiv vremena i prostora; naš život je jedno jedino, ogromno slepilo, izuzev ono malo stvari koje saznajemo zahval?uju?i našim si?ušnim ?ulima – si?ušnim kako po njihovoj suštini tako i po njihovom domašaju. Vladaju?i princip u kosmosu jeste slepilo. Ono omogu?ava naporedno postojanje stvari koje bi bile nemogu?e kad bi videle jedna drugu.

What proof have we that inorganic objects can feel no pain? Who knows if a book may not yearn for other books, its companions of many years, in some way strange to us and therefore never yet perceived?

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange. In the dark, the fear of an unexpected touch can mount to panic. Even clothes give insufficient security: it is easy to tear them and pierce through to the naked, smooth, defenceless flesh of the victim.

Há muitos anos que me ocupo dessa tradução: a esfera privada na qual, todavia, ainda não me instalei confortavelmente, e onde tudo deve caminhar com conscienciosidade e responsabilidade, é a língua alemã.

Slumbering in every human being lies an infinity of possibilities, which one must not arouse in vain. For it is terrible when the whole man resonates with echoes and echoes, none becoming a real voice.

A crowd exists so long as it has an unattained goal.

Disgust at collective killing is of very recent date and should not be over-estimated. Today everyone takes part in public executions through the newspapers. Like everything else, however, it is more comfortable than it was. We sit peacefully at home and, out of a hundred details, can choose those to linger over which offer a special thrill. We only applaud when everything is over and there is no feeling of guilty connivance to spoil our pleasure.

He panted for silence as others do for air.