Nazim Hikmet Quotes

Living is no laughing matter: You must take it seriously. So much so and to such a degree that, for example, your hands tied behind your back, your back to the wall or else in a laboratory in your white coat and safety glasses, you can die for people – even for people whose faces you’ve never seen, even though you know living is the most real, most beautiful thing. I mean, you must take living so seriously that even at seventy, for example, you’ll plant olive trees – and not for your children, either, but because, although you fear death you don’t believe it, because living, I mean, weighs heavier. - "On Living

. . . Don't live in the world as if you were renting or here only for the summer, but act as if it was your father's house. . .Believe in seeds, earth, and the sea, but people above all. Love clouds, machines, and books, but people above all." Nazim Hikmet, 20th century Turkish poet

There are reasons to be sad, disconsolate, bitter, but there is not a single reason to be hopeless.

My Country I don't have any caps left made back home Nor any shoes that trod your roads I've worn out your last shirt quite long ago It was of Sile cloth Now you only remain in the whiteness of my hair Intact in my heart Now you only remain in the whiteness of my hair In the lines of my forehead My country -Nazim Hikmet

Let's give the world to the children just for one day like a balloon in bright and striking colours to play with let them play singing among the stars let's give the world to the children like a huge apple like a warm loaf of bread at least for one day let them have enough let's give the world to the children at least for one day let the world learn friendship children will get the world from our hands they'll plant immortal trees - "Let's Give the World to the Children

You Are My Drunkenness You are my drunkenness... I did not sober up, as if I can do that; I don't want to anyway. I have a headache, my knees are full of scars I am in mud all around I struggle to walk towards your hesitant light.

If I don’t burn if you don’t burn if we don’t burn how will the light vanquish the darkness?

THE GREAT HUMANITY The great humanity is the deck-passenger on the ship third class on the train on foot on the causeway the great humanity. The great humanity goes to work at eight marries at twenty dies at forty the great humanity. Bread is enough for all except the great humanity rice the same sugar the same cloth the same books the same are enough for all except the great humanity. The great humanity has no shade on his soil no lamp on his road no glass on his window but the great humanity has hope you can't live without hope.

Αν δεν καώ εγώ, αν δεν καείς εσύ, πώς θα γενούνε τα σκοτάδια φως;

moonlight the falsest the most languid the most petit-bourgeois strikes me I like it

Yolunu beklerken daha dün gece Kaçıyorum bugün senden gizlice Kalbime baktım da işte iyice Anladım ki sen de herkes gibisin

and the world is so huge so lovely its shores are so endless to live as one divines a masterpiece as one hears a song of love as a child caught in wonder...

My only one! In your last letter "My head aches my heart is stunned!" you say. "If they hang you, if I lose you;" you say; "I can't live!" You'll live my dearest wife, like a black smoke in the wind my memory will vanish; you'll live, the red-haired sister of my heart at most one year it lasts in the twentieth century the grief of death.. Death a dead body swinging on a rope. My heart doesn't accept such a death.. But be sure that, my love, if some pitiable gypsy's hairy black spider like hand slips the rope around my neck, to see the fear in my blue eyes they'll look in vain at Nâzım! And I, in the twilight of my last morning, shall see my friends and you, and carry only the grief of an unfinished song to the soil... My wife! Good hearted, golden coloured, with eyes sweeter than honey, my bee; why did I write you that they want to hang me, the trial is in the first step and they don't pluck like a turnip the head of a man. Come, forget them all. These are so far away probabilities. If you have some money buy me a flannel underwear, my sciatica is acting up. And don't forget that always there should be good thoughts in the mind of a prisoner's wife.

the train plunges on through the pitch-black night I never knew I liked the night pitch-black sparks fly from the engine I didn't know I loved sparks I didn't know I loved so many things and I had to wait until sixty to find it out sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train watching the world disappear as if on a journey of no return

Never give up on a dream just because you think it will take you too long to realize it. Time will pass anyway.

…in the twentieth century grief lasts at most a year.’ I have used this quote from the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet as a prelude to a small tale before I go on to the War in iraq. The reason I chose to use this quote is because I wonder how long grief lasts in the twenty-first century. Is it now a month? Two weeks? Or just enough time for the television cameras to record it and then it’s over? I don’t know.

I come and stand at every door  But none can hear my silent tread  I knock and yet remain unseen  For I am dead for I am dead  I'm only seven though I died  In Hiroshima long ago  I'm seven now as I was then  When children die they do not grow  My hair was scorched by swirling flame  My eyes grew dim my eyes grew blind  Death came and turned my bones to dust  And that was scattered by the wind  I need no fruit I need no rice  I need no sweets nor even bread  I ask for nothing for myself  For I am dead for I am dead  All that I need is that for peace  You fight today you fight today  So that the children of this world  Can live and grow and laugh and play  - The Girl Child

MY WOMAN My woman came with me as far as Brest, she got off the train and stayed on the platform, she grew smaller and smaller, she became a kernel of wheat in the infinite blue, then all I could see were the tracks. Then she called out from Poland, but I couldn't answer, I couldn't ask, "Where are you, my rose, where are you?" "Come," she said, but I couldn't reach her, the train was going like it would never stop, I was choking with grief. Then patches of snow were rotting on sandy earth, and suddenly I knew my woman was watching : "Did you forget me," she asked, "did you forget me?" Spring marched with muddy bare feet on the sky. Then stars lighted on the telegraph wires, darkness dashed the train like rain, my woman stood under the telegraph poles, her heart pounding as if she were in my arms, the poles kept disappearing, she didn't move, the train was going like it would never stop, I was choking with grief. Then suddenly I knew I'd been on that train for years - I'm still amazed at how or why I knew it - and always singing the same great song of hope, I'm forever leaving the cities and women I love, and carrying my losses like wounds opening inside me, I'm getting closer, closer to somewhere.

* Either people love you, or they're your enemy. - Nazim Hikmet * Despite either people, who love one's persona or abominates as an enemy; however, among those, the majority of people stay neutral as neither carries love nor triggers revulsion and enmity. - Ehsan Sehgal

THE WEEPING WILLOW Flowing was the water showing in its mirror the willow trees. The weeping willows in the water were washing their hair! Striking the willows with their sparkling, bare swords the red horsemen were running to where the sun sets! Suddenly like a bird as if struck in the wing a wounded horseman rolled down from his horse! He didn't shout, he did'nt call back those who go along, he just looked with brimming eyes at the shining horseshoes of departing riders! O what a pity! What a pity for him that no more he shall lie on the foaming necks of galloping horses, no more he shall play his sword behind the white armies! The sounds of the horseshoes fades away slowly, the horsemen vanish at where the sun sets! Horsemen horsemen red horsemen, their horses winged with wind! Their horses winged with... Their horses winged... Their horses... Horse... Life has passed like the wind winged horsemen! The voice of the flowing water ceased. The shadows shadowed the colours wiped off. Black coverings came down over his blue eyes, the weeping willows hung down over his yellow hair! Weep not weeping willow weep not, in the mirror of the black water clasp not your hands! clasp not your hands! weep not!

The best sea has yet to be crossed. The best child has yet to be born. Our best days have yet to be lived; and the best word I want to say to you is the word I have not yet said.

Hasan şevket'in dostu anlatıyordu: -ben allah diyorum siz tabiat diyiniz bir müntekim bir manevi kuvvet var beyim ah ü enin ile kuruldu avrupa ah ü enin ile yıkılıyor harcı gözyaşıyla yuğrulan yapıdan hayır gelmez zalim babanın evladı çeker. bir maneviyat var ben allah diyorum, beyim siz, tabiat deyiniz. hasan şevket sözünü kesti dostunun: - ben ne allah diyorum ne maneviyat ne tabiat ben hiçbir şey demiyorum. şu tabakta bir dilim beyaz peynir var ben onu bile yemiyorum yiyemiyorum yani... ikinci dilime çıkışmıyor param ne zalimdi ne de derebeyiydi babam avrupa'nın yıkılması da umrumda değil biz de beraber yıkılalım bir an evvel biz de beraber. söyleyecek ne kadar güzel sözlerim vardı insanlara bana hiçbirini söyletmediler hep aynı bokun soyudur en kötünüz, en iyiniz bir tek dilim peynirimi size ikram ediyorum buyrun yiyiniz.

Die Mehrzahl der Menschen reist Zwischendeck, fährt dritte Klasse, geht zu Fuss auf der Straße, die Mehrzahl der Menschen. Die Mehrzahl der Menschen arbeitet mit acht Jahren, mit zwanzig heiraten sie, mit vierzig sterben sie, die Mehrzahl der Menschen. Abgesehen von der Mehrzahl der Menschen reicht das Brot für alle, Reis auch, Zucker auch, Stoff auch, Butter auch, das reicht für alle, nur nicht für die Mehrzahl der Menschen. Kein Schatten ist auf der Erde der Mehrzahl der Menschen, kein Licht auf der Straße, keine Scheibe im Fenster, nur die Hoffnung ist der Mehrzahl der Menschen gegeben, ohne Hoffnung könnten sie nicht leben.

যারা জেল খাটবে তাদের জন্য কিছু উপদেশ গলায় ফাঁসি দিয়ে ঝোলাবার বদলে তোমাকে ভেতরে ছুঁড়ে ফেলা হয় আশা ত্যাগ না করার জন্য এই জগতে, তোমার দেশ, আর জনগণ, তুমি যদি দশ বা পনেরো বছর জেল খাটো যা সময় বেঁচে আছে তা ছাড়া, তুমি বলবে না “দড়ির শেষ থেকে ঝুলতে পারলে বরং ভালো হতো এক পতাকার মতন”--- তুমি মাটিতে পা ফেলবে আর বেঁচে থাকবে। তা যদিও পুরো আনন্দের হবে না, কিন্তু এটা তোমার পবিত্র কর্তব্য আরও এক দিন বেঁচে থাকা শত্রুকে জ্বালাতন করার জন্য । তোমার একাংশ একা ভেতরে থাকতে পারে, কুয়োর তলদেশে ঢিলের মতন। কিন্তু অন্য অংশ এমন ফাঁদে আটকে যাবে জগতের ছুটোছুতিতে যে ভেতরে তুমি শিহরিত হতে থাকবে যখন বাইরে বেরোবে, চল্লিশ দিনের পরে, একটা পাতা নড়বে। ভেতরে চিঠির জন্য অপেক্ষা করবে, দুঃখি গান গাইবার জন্য, কিংবা সারারাত শুয়ে থাকবে কড়িকাঠের দিকে তাকিয়ে তা বেশ মিষ্টি কিন্তু বিপজ্জনক। দাড়ি কামানো থেকে কামানোর মাঝে তোমার মুখের দিকে তাকাও, তোমার বয়স ভুলে যাও, উকুন খোঁজে আর বসন্তকালের রাত, আর সব সময়ে মনে রেখো রুটির শেষ টুকরোটা পর্যন্ত খেয়ে ফেলতে হবে--- সেই সঙ্গে, দিলখোলা হাসি হাসতে ভুলো না । আর কেই বা বলতে পারে, যে নারীকে তুমি ভালোবাসো সে তোমাকে ভালোবাসা বন্ধ করে দিয়েছে বোলো না যে তা কোনো বড়ো ব্যাপার নয় : ভেতরের মানুষটার কাছে তা গাছের সবুজ ডাল ভেংএ ফেলা । ভেতরে গোলাপ আর বাগানের চিন্তা করা কারাপ, সমুদ্র আর পাহাড়ের চিন্তা করা ভালো। বিশ্রাম নি নিয়ে পড়ো আর লেখো আর আমি বোনবার পরামর্শও দেবো আর আয়না তৈরি করার । আমি বলতে চাই, এমন নয় যে তুমি সময় কাটাতে পারবে না দশ বা পনেরো বছর ভেতরে আর বেশি-- তুমি পারবে, যতক্ষণ না সেই মণি যা তোমার বুকের বাঁ দিকে আছে তা জৌলুশ হারিয়ে ফেলছে !

The lemon scented geranium in the pot smells stronger. The seas roar. Autumn is here with its full clouds and wise earth. My darling. The year is mature now. It seems to me we have lived through a thousand-year adventure, but we are still wide-eyed children running hand in hand, barefoot in the sun.

That's it' one day Mother Nature will say to us, 'no more laughter, no more tears, my child.' The vast, infinite life will begin all over again, a life not seeing, not talking, not thinking.

Televizyonun üstündeki iki raftan ilki Mensur'un kitaplarına ayrılmıştı: Lord Kinross'tan Atatürk: Bir Milletin Yeniden Doğuşu, Atatürk'ün Nutuk'u, Nazim Hikmet'in tüm eserleri, Dostoyevski'nin Suç ve Ceza'sı, Boris Pasternak'ın Doktor Jivago'su ve okuna okuna yıpranmış cildiyle Ömer Hayyam'ın Rubailer'i...

Αν η μισή καρδιά μου βρίσκεται, γιατρέ, δω πέρα Η άλλη μισή στην Κίνα βρίσκεται Με τη στρατιά που κατεβαίνει προς το Κίτρινο Ποτάμι. Κ’ ύστερα, να, γιατρέ, την πάσα αυγή Την πάσα αυγή, γιατρέ, με τα χαράματα Πάντα η καρδιά μου στην Ελλάδα ντουφεκίζεται Κ’ ύστερα, να, σαν οι φυλακισμένοι γέρνουνε στον ύπνο Και σβήνουν στο νοσοκομείο τα τελευταία βήματα Τραβάει ολόισια, γιατρέ, η καρδιά μου Τραβάει, γιατρέ, στην Ιστανμπούλ, σ’ ένα παλιό ξύλινο σπίτι. Κ’ ‘υστερα, δέκα χρόνια τώρα, να, γιατρέ Που τίποτα δεν έχω μές στα χέρια μου να δώσω στον φτωχό λαό μου Τίποτα πάρεξ ένα μήλο Ένα κόκκινο μήλο, την καρδιά μου. Κ’ είναι, γιατρέ, απ’ αφορμή όλα τούτα Που μες στα στήθεια μου έχω τούτη την αρρώστια. Όμως, γιατρέ, και μ’ όλα τα ντουβάρια που μου κάθουνται στα στήθεια Κοιτάω τη νύχτα ανάμεσα απ’ τα κάγκελα Κι όλη η καρδιά μου αντιχτυπά και στο πιο μακρινό αστέρι. Nazim Hikmet, “Στηθάγχη

* Either people love you, or they're your enemy. - Nazim Hikmet * Despite either people who love one's persona or abominates as an enemy; however, among those, the majority of people stay neutral as neither carries love nor triggers revulsion and enmity. - Ehsan Sehgal

I was seventeen My heart on a swing touched the sky