Quotes from Virginia Woolf

È che pensava a lei, la criticava, e di nuovo, dopo trent'anni, provava a spiegarsela.

Y denota estrechez de miras por parte de sus semejantes más privilegiados el decir que deberían limitarse a hacer postres y hacer calcetines, a tocar el piano y bordar bolsos. Es necio condenarlas o burlarse de ellas cuando tratan de hacer algo más o aprender más cosas de las que la costumbre ha declarado necesarias para su sexo.

she could not shake herself free from the sense that everything this morning was happening for the first time, perhaps for the last time, as a traveller, even though he is half asleep, knows, looking out of the train window, that he must look now, for he will never see that town, or that mule-cart, or that woman at work in the fields, again.

pensé en lo desagradable que era que le dejaran a uno fuera; y pensé que quizás era peor que le encerraran a uno dentro;

Only human beings—what did THEY want?

se dirigió al extremo opuesto del salón, haica un rincón en penumbra donde colgaba un espejo, y se miró. ¡No! No iba bien. Y de inmediato la congoja que siempre intentaba ocultar, la profunda insatisfacción - la sensación que tenía, desde que era niña, de ser inferior a los demás -, se apoderó de ella, implacable, despiadada, con tal intensidad que no podía rechazarla

We do not know our own souls, let alone the souls of others. Human beings do not go hand in hand the whole stretch of the way. There is a virgin forest in each; a snowfield where even the print of birds' feet is unknown. Here we go alone, and like it better so. Always to have sympathy, always to be accompanied, always to be understood would be intolerable

Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power probably the earth would still be swamp and jungle.

It was jealousy that was at the bottom of it - jealousy which survives every other passion of mankind...

Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.

Ha fontolóra vesszük a dolgot, ki tudja, nem ezt gondolta-e talán: vajon valóban mindent ki tudnak mondani a szavak? Mondanak egyáltalán valamit? Nem rombolják-e le a valóságot, mely egyszer?en meghaladja a teljesítÅ'képességüket?

She felt very young; at the same time unspeakably aged.

E poi, ora che era condannato, abbandonato da tutti, completamente solo, come è solo chi sta per morire, c'era un privilegio in questo, un isolamento che aveva del sublime, una libertà che chi ha legami non potrà mai conoscere.

Over the obscure man is poured the merciful suffusion of darkness. None knows where he goes or comes. He may seek the truth and speak it; he alone is free; he alone is truthful, he alone is at peace. And so he sank into a quiet mood, under the oak tree, the hardness of whose roots, exposed above the ground seemed to him rather comfortable than otherwise.

De mit jelent az, hogy ugyanÅ'? Az, amit látunk, vagy az, ami vagyunk?

Non aveva mai capito che senso avesse fare a pezzi le persone, come faceva Clarissa Dalloway - farle a pezzi e poi rimetterle assieme.

Részei lettek annak a valószer?tlen, de átható és izgató mindenségnek, ami a szerelem szemével nézve a világ.

Flush valóságos bölcs - írta nÅ'vérének Mrs. Browning; s talán a görögökre gondolt, akik úgy vélték, a boldogság a szenvedések útjának végén vár ránk. Ilyen az igazi filozófus: ruhája nincs ugyan, de nincs bolhája sem.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. The lamp in the spine does not light on beef and prunes.

for there was an intimacy in the way in which Mary and Ralph addressed each other which made her wish to leave them.

Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself.

That she had grown older? Would he say that, or would she see him thinking when he came back, that she had grown older?

érezte, igen, hogy az élet, mely elkülönült kis események sorozata, s ezeket egyenként, sorjában éljük át, kígyózó-hullámzó egész, mely hol feldobja, hol sodorja magával az embert, s a partra csobbantja végül.

Nada, porém, pode ser mais arrogante, embora mais comum, do que assumir que de Deuses só existe um, e de religiões nenhuma além da de quem fala.