Quotes from Ismail Kadare

A mountaineer's house, before being his home and the home of his family, is the home of God and of guests.

The writer is always to some extent in exile, wherever he is, because he is somehow outside, separated from others; there is always a distance.

afirmaban que el Apocalipsis no era sino el día en que los sueños saldrían de la cárcel del dormir, pues la resurrección de los muertos que la gente concibe de forma trivial y metafísica, se produciría precisamente de ese modo. ¿No eran acaso los sueños mensajes enviados por ellos? Esta reivindicación secular de los muertos, este ruego, lamento, protesta, llámese como se quiera, será un día tomada en cuenta.

Entiendes lo que te quiero decir? Si el globo terrestre desapareciera un día, si, por ejemplo, la Tierra se estrellase contra un cometa, se despedazara y se volatilizase o simplemente se precipitara en el abismo, si por tanto nuestro globo desapareciera sin dejar otro rastro que este sótano repleto de cartapacios, este sótano bastaría para comprender lo que había sido este mundo.

Thick smoke like a herd of black horses was rising over the massive building and being blown around by the wind.

Ata nuk kishin menduar kurre se ajo mund te qeshte ,dhe sic do gje qe permbys nje mendim te pergjithshem, kjo e qeshur zgjoi tek ata nje fare shqetesimi , gati gati frike

Die Emigration kann ein Zeichen der Stärke oder der Schwäche einer Nation sein.

Nga shqiptarë të sunduar u gdhinë në mysliman të çliruar?

Dhe artisti i ri shkon drejt artit siç shkohet drejt mëkatit.

For in the nocturnal realm of sleep are to be found both the light and the darkness of humanity, its honey and its poison, its greatness and its vulnerability.

ajzat ishin te bardha si endrra e mengjesit por fatkeqesisht , po aq te pakapshme si endrra.

Të shikosh. Sa gjë e pashpjegueshme! Ja, unë drejtoj fytyrën nga lagjet e poshtme të qytetit dhe sytë, si dy pompa të fuqishme, fillonin të thithnin dritë dhe pamje të ndryshme: tymtarë, ndonjë dru fiku të vetmuar, rrugë, kalimtarë. E ndjenin ata që unë po i thithja? Mbyll sytë. Stop. Rrjedha ndalet. I hap sytë. Rrjedha vazhdon.

in the first place, Majesty, a pyramid is power. It is repression,force,and wealth. But it is just as much: domination of the rabble; the narrowing of its mind; the weakening of its will; monotony; and waste. O my Pharaoh, it is your most reliable guardian. Your secret police. Your army. Your fleet. Your harem. The higher it is, the tinier your subjects will seem. And the smaller your subjects, the more you rise, o Majesty, to your full height.

My streets, my cistern. My old house. Its beams, floorboards and staircase creaked slightly, almost imperceptibly, with a dry, uniform, almost constant cracking sound. What's wrong? Where does it hurt? It seemed to be complaining of aches in its bones, in its centuries-old joints.

The days went by without incident and often without their name. When you'd unpacked the hours from the day and then the night and piled them all up, you could toss the boxes they came in, which is all that Wednesday or Friday really are.

The events were always hidden behind a veil drawn by an unknown power, and seemed to come from the realm of destiny. It was this that upset the everyday equilibrium, logic and the order of things.

I reckoned they had probably begun to pour out their hearts and entrust each other with the subjects of the plays and novels they had written or planned to write. It was customary after serious drinking.

The memories of events and statesmen paled as the years passed. Dust covered them, mud stained them, until they were finally erased as if they had never been. But recently people had come to understand that forgetting was more difficult and complicated than remembering.

They said 'ski', but they heard 'vodka'!

Greater Albania?!, this is a mockery of an unprecedented cynicism.

Their bodies were like corpses ready for embalming, from which all innards likely to rot had already been removed. Superfluous emotions like curiosity, fear and lust for gossip or excitement had been shed along with the useless flesh and excess fat. Javer once said that Granny Shano could as easily have grabbed the ear of Benito Mussolini himself as the Italian officer's.

Los delirios eran escasos com tiburones atrapados en las redes repletas de peces comunes

The pyramid is the pillar that holds power aloft. If it wavers,everything collapses.

He was obsessed with the fear of making a mistake. Sometimes he was convinced it was impossible to do anything else, and that if anyone got anything right it was purely by chance.