Quotes from Olga Tokarczuk

zrozumia?am, ?e smutek jest wa?nym s?owem w definicji ?wiata. Le?y u podstaw wszystkiego, jest pi?tym ?ywio?em, kwintesencj?.

If people could read the same books, they would inhabit the same world.

Ludzie maj? pot??n? potrzeb?, ?eby czu? si? lepszymi od innych. Niewa?ne, kim s?, musz? mie? kogo?, kto by?by gorszy od nich.

In a certain sense this was true, and truth is always true in a certain sense;

Ludzie my?l?, ?e ?yj? bardziej intensywnie ni? zwierz?ta, ni? rosliny, a tym bardziej - ni? rzeczy. Zwierzeta przeczuwaj?, ?e ?yj? bardziej intensywnie ni? ro?liny i rzeczy. Ro?liny ?ni?, ?e ?yj? bardziej intensywnie ni? rzeczy. A rzeczy trwaj?, i to trwanie jest bardziej ?yciem ni? cokolwiek innego.

But it also crossed my mind that in spite of all, in spite of our fragility and ignorance, we have an incredible advantage over the stars – it is for us that time works, giving us a major opportunity to transform the suffering, aching world into a happy and peaceful one.

the truest argument was an old one—the earth is round, let us not be too attached, then, to directions.

Then you realize: night gives the world back its natural, original appearance, without sugar-coating it; day is a flight of fancy, light a slight exception, an oversight, a disruption of the order. The world in fact is dark, almost black. Motionless and cold.

To wielka tajemnica, ?e ka?de wyzwanie uruchamia w nas prawdziwie ?ywotne si?y

Fluidity, mobility, illusoriness -- these are precisely the qualities that make us civilised. Barbarians don't travel. They simply go to destinations or conduct raids.

S?owa s? jak jaszczurki, potrafi? uciec z ka?dego zamkni?cia.

A thing that is not talked about ceases to exist.

Constellation, not sequencing, carries truth. This is why travel psychology envisions man in equivalently weighted situations, without trying to lend his life any—even approximate—continuity. Life is made up of situations. There is, of course, a certain inclination toward the repetition of behaviors. This repetition does not, however, mean that we should succumb in our imaginations to the appearance of any sort of consistent whole.

Its Animals show the truth about a country," I said. "Its attitude toward Animals. If people behave brutally toward Animals, no form of democracy is ever going to help them, in fact nothing will at all.

Some people have a sense of unearthly things, just as others have an excellent sense of smell or hearing or taste. They can feel the subtle shifts in the great and complicated body of the world. And some of these have so honed that inner sight that they can even tell where a holy spark has fallen, notice its glow in the very place you would least expect it. The worse the place, the more fervently the spark gleams, flickers— and the warmer and purer is its light.

the face turns out to be one of the most superficial characteristics of the whole human form),

Czy ludzie niecierpliwi nie przypominaj? duchów, które nigdy nie s? tu, w tym miejscu, i teraz, w tej w?a?nie chwili, ale wystawiaj? g?ow? z ?ycia jak ci w?drowcy, którzy podobno, gdy znale?li si? na ko?cu ?wiata, wyjrzeli poza horyzont.

It's clear that the largest things are contained in the smallest. There can be no doubt about it. At this very moment, as I write, there's a planetary configuration on this table, the entire Cosmos if you like: a thermometer, a coin, an aluminum spoon and a porcelain cup. A key, a mobile phone, a piece of paper and pen. And one of my grey hairs, whose atoms preserve the memory of the origins of life, of the cosmic Catastrophe that gave the world its beginning.

That's what I dislike most of all in people—cold irony. It's a very cowardly attitude to mock or belittle everything, never be committed to anything, not feel tied to anything.

I am already at an age and additionally in a state where I must always wash my feet thoroughly before bed, in the event of having to be removed be an ambulance in the Night.

That's too much. You can't want all those things,' he said. 'Oh yes I can! And I'm the one to define what I can want,' I shouted furiously

Nie ma tu nikogo, Bóg stworzy? ?wiat i umar? z wysi?ku.

What makes us most human is the possession of a unique and irreproducible story, that we take place over time and leave behind our traces.

For the best conversations are with yourself. At least there's no risk of a misunderstanding.