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Quotes About Contrast

Wir sind der Meinung, Schönheit sei nicht in den Objekten selber zu suchen, sondern im Helldunkel, im Schattenspiel, das sich zwischen Objekten entfaltet.
~ Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Und wer unbedingt diese Unansehnlichkeit betrachten will, der wird zugleich jegliche vorhandene Schönheit zunichte machen, gerade wie wenn er ein Licht von hundert Kerzenstärken auf die Wandnische eines Teeraums richtete.
~ Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Während die Abendländer den Schmutz radikal aufzudecken und zu entfernen trachten, konservieren ihn die Ostasiaten sorgfältig und ästhetisieren ihn, so wie er ist - könnte man, wenn man wollte, beschönigend sagen; aber wie auch immer, es ist unser Schicksal, dass wir nun einmal Dinge mit Spuren von Menschenhänden, Lampenruß, Wind und Regen lieben oder auch daran erinnernde Farbtönungen und Lichtwirkungen.
~ Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Such is our way of thinking - we find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.
~ Junichirô Tanizaki
Modern man, in his well-lit house, knows nothing of the beauty of gold; but those who lived in the dark houses of the past were not merely captivated by its beauty, they also knew its practical value; for gold, in these dim rooms, must have served the function of a reflector. Their use of gold leaf and gold dust was not mere extravagance. Its reflective properties were put to use as a source of illumination.
~ Junichirô Tanizaki
Pero cuando, sustituidas éstas (las lámparas eléctricas con pantalla de papel) por los candelabros, de luz todavía más tenue, se observan las bandejas y boles bajo el parpadeo de la trémula llama, se descubre cómo el brillo de todos esos objetos lacados, hondo y espeso como las aguas de un estanque, va revistiéndose de un encanto completamente diferente al que había mostrado hasta entonces.
~ Junichirô Tanizaki
It was a house halfway between this and that, between upper-middle-class luxuries and absentminded squalor. My father had been too distracted, while he was alive
~ Justin Evans
Loneliness—since I was trying to escape it—was hell; and yet for the hermit who seeks it, it is apparently happiness.
~ K?b? Abe
Nuevamente se volvió a mirar a la mujer, y sin embargo, no sintió ninguna tentación de acercarse más. Una mujer cubierta de arena podía resultar visualmente atractiva, pero no inspiraba el deseo de tocarla.
~ K?b? Abe
En otras palabras, la belleza de la arena pertenecía al reino de la muerte. La belleza de la muerte, que lleva en sí un gran poder de destrucción y la magnificiencia de las ruinas...
~ K?b? Abe
Tam, kde není rozdíl? a protiklad?, nastane pohyb zpÄ›t.
~ K?b? Abe
Nisipul... Lucrurile care aveau form? p?reau goale de orice conÅ£inut cînd erau puse al?turi de nisip. Singurul factor sigur era miÅŸcarea lui. Nisipul era antiteza formei.
~ K?b? Abe
Zadarnic curge nisipul, tot nu e ca apa. În ap? poÅ£i s? înoÅ£i, dar nisipul te înveleÅŸte ÅŸi te zdrobeÅŸte omorandu-te.
~ K?b? Abe
Loneliness - since I was trying to escape it - was hell; and yet for the hermit who seeks it, it is apprently happiness.
~ K?b? Abe
what cheered me most was to watch the girl quietly playing with her yoyo in the shadow of the emergency stairs, unseen by anyone but me. She was burdened with a great misfortune that she could not perceive as misfortune. She did not know how much luckier she was than the rest of mankind aware of unhappiness.
~ K?b? Abe
One of the characteristics of early modern thought was a tendency to assume binary contrasts. In an attempt to define phenomena more exactly, categories of experience that had once co-inhered were now set off against each other: faith and reason, intellect and emotion, and church and state.
~ Karen Armstrong
Muslim fundamentalism, by contrast, has often-though again, not always-segued into physical aggression. This is not because Islam is constitutionally more prone to violence than Protestant Christianity but rather because Muslims had a much harsher introduction to modernity.
~ Karen Armstrong
Between the river in the mellow English landscape and the African mountain ridge, ran the path of this life. ... The bowstring was released on the bridge at Eton, the arrow described its orbit, and hit the obelisk in the Ngong Hills.
~ Karen Blixen
Roses are red, nuts are brown Skirts go up, pants goes down
~ Karen Cicero
Different isn't wrong. It's just different.
~ Karen Ehman
I suppose that Lucy and I were worthy of the male gaze, what with her pale blond beauty shown off nicely in a peach summer frock, in contrast to my black hair set against light skin. Tonight I wore my favorite dress of pale green linen, which everyone said complemented my eyes, and a cotton bolero jacket perfect for a summer evening.
~ Karen Essex
Mother always said he was like a lake, calm on the surface though a powerful current rumbled beneath. Tristan, meanwhile, was the ocean—his feelings frothed and foamed on the surface, crashing like waves into every situation.
~ Karen Hawkins
Still,he noticed that though the house was in poor shape, the gardens were perfect. The paths were well lined, the flower beds filled with roses and lilacs, the trees well trimmed. He smiled darkly.His beautiful little angel of trouble must have run out of time.
~ Karen Hawkins
We sat around our own table, an island of sad reflection in an ocean of merry din.
~ Karen Joy Fowler