Quotes About Meaning

The blood of too many, dissolving the very stain.

Le parole sconosciute rappresentano un abisso vertiginoso, fecondo. Un abisso che contiene tutto ciò che mi sfugge, tutto il possibile.

It has been said by many that the risk, for the author who self-translates, is to rewrite more than translate, given that there are no rules to obey when the only authority is oneself. What is the meaning of obedience, of faithfulness, when the other does not exist. 57

Cammino sulla superficie, la parte accesibile. Ma so, da scrittrice, che una lingua esiste nelle ossa, nel midollo. Che la vera vita della lingua, la sostanza è lì.

At four Bela was developing a memory. The word yesterday entered her vocabulary, though its meaning was elastic, synonymous with whatever was no longer the case. The past collapsed, in no particular order, contained by a single word.

Without a sense of marvel at things, without wonder, one can't create anything. If everything were possible, what would be the meaning, the point of life?

Le parole sconosciute rappresentano un abisso vertiginoso, fecondo. Un abisso che contiene tutto ciò che mi sfugge, tutto il posibile.

Containers may be the destiny of many in that they hold our remains after death. But this novel reminds us that narrative refuses to stay put, and that the effort of telling stories only pins things down so far. In the end it is language itself that is the most problematic container; it holds too much and too little at the same time.

Mr. Kapasi had never thought of his job in such complimentary terms. To him it was a thankless occupation. He found nothing noble in interpreting people's maladies

È bella, certo, ma non c'entra la bellezza. Sembra una lingua con cui devo avere una relazione.

I don't think I have ever worked in my life, because work to me means that you are really doing something that you don't like.

There are single thoughts that contain the essence of a whole volume, single sentences that have the beauties of a large work.

Without work, so much of one's identity just evaporates.

Somebody once asked me if I have anything like faith, and I said I have faith in the narrative. I have a belief in a narrative that is bigger than me, that is alive and I trust will work itself out.

I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.

Don't bother trying to guilt me. Ask my other. It doesn't work.

Poetry is God's work.

What will I do when I can no longer dig?

I only work in relation to what the work is about. Yes, of course, if the world's coming to an end I would basically try to get out of the way when the sky falls.

It's a great thing when you feel that you recognize yourself, deeply and movingly, in a work of literature.

Time has no meaning. I feel as if I have been left in the desert to die and am eagerly awaiting the vultures to begin their work and end my misery.

To do work that's not going to be fulfilling doesn't make sense.

A career is all very well, but no one lives by work alone.

I don't demand that all work be a masterpiece. What I am doing is the right thing for me - that is what I am and this is living. It reflects me and I reflect it.