Quotes About Ambiguity

Looking out over the courtyard at the dirty walls, he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love.

He remained annoyed with himself until he realized that not knowing what he wanted was actually quite natural. We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can never compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.

All predictions are wrong, that's one of the few certainties granted to mankind.

Everyone is wrong about the future. Man can only be certain about the present moment. But is that quite true either? Can he really know the present? Is he in a position to make any judgment about it? Certainly not. For how can a person with no knowledge of the future understand the meaning of the present? If we do not know what future the present is leading us toward, how can we say whether this present is good or bad, whether it deserves our concurrence, or our suspicion, or our hatred?

he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love

We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives, nor perfect it in lives to come.

If we do not know what future the present is leading us toward, how can we say whether this present is good or bad, whether it deserves our concurrence, or our suspicion, or our hatred?

Nunca se pode saber o que se deve querer, pois só se tem uma vida e não se pode nem compará-la com as vidas anteriores nem corrigi-la nas vidas posteriores.

Jaromil had always regarded the future as an awesome mystery. It comprised everything unknown, and for that reason it lured and terrified. It was the opposite of certainty, the opposite of home.

Everyone is wrong about the future.

We can never know what to want, because living only one life, we can neither compare it with our precious lives nor perfect it in our lives to come

Her life was split. Both day and night were competing for her.

Porque es así y vale para todos: nunca sabremos por qué irritamos a la gente, qué es lo que nos hace simpáticos, qué es lo que noshace ridículos; nuestra propia imagen es para nosotros nuestro mayor misterio

The goals we pursue are always veiled... The thing that gives us our every move its meaning is always unknown to us.

Humor: the divine flash that reveals the world in its moral ambiguity and man in his profound incompetence to judge others; humor: the intoxicating relativity of human things; the strange pleasure that conies of the certainty that there is no certainty. But humor, to recall Octavio Paz, is the great invention of the modern spirit. It has not been with us forever, and it won't be with us forever either. With a heavy heart, I imagine the day when Panurge no longer makes people laugh.

To cover his tracks and mask his erotic withdrawal, he took pleasure in good-naturedly dirty stories and mildly ambiguous allusions, all delivered loudly and with laughter. The mother was his best ally, ever quick to support him with smutty remarks that she would pronounce in some exaggerated, parodic manner, and in her puerile English. Listening to the two of them, Irena got the sense that eroticism had once and for all turned into childish clowning.

We can never know what we want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.

We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come...And so....there is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison.

Non si può mai sapere che cosa si deve volere perché si vive una vita soltanto e non si può ne confrontarla con le proprie vite precedenti, né correggerla nelle vite future.

The thing that gives our every move its meaning is always totally unknown to us.

the whole mystery

Porque el joven era consciente a veces de que el mundo en que vive es un laberinto de valores cuya importancia intuye apenas vagamente y que, por lo tanto, sólo pueden dejar de ser valores aparentes y convertirse en valores reales cuando hayan sido confirmados

Nie by? pewien, czy post?puje s?usznie, ale by? pewien, ?e post?puje tak, jak chce post?powa?.

He remained annoyed with himself until he realized that not knowing what he wanted was actually quite natural. We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come. Was it better to be with Tereza or to remain alone? There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison.