Pascal Bruckner Quotes

Ma leg mai ales de fiintele care n-au nevoie de mine si pe care deodata le inlantui prin cea mai puternica legatura. Sunt gata sa dau totul cui nu cere nimic, dar nu vreau sa cedez nimic cui asteapta totul de la celalalt.

‎"Imperfecţiunea este mult mai seducătoare decât plicticoasa regulariate. O figură emoţionantă este o asamblare de defecte armonios repartizate.

Ultimately, 'how's it going?' is the most futile and the most profound of questions. To answer it precisely, one would have to make a scrupulous inventory of one's psyche, considering each aspect in detail. No matter: we have to say 'fine' out of politeness and civility and change the subject, or else ruminate the question during our whole lives and reserve our reply for afterward.

„A iubi înseamnă să-i dau celuilalt, cu propriul meu consimţământ, o putere infinită asupra mea. Cum de putusem contribui la propria mea servitute?

Ο έρωτας φυσικά είναι δυο μοναξιές που ζευγαρώνουν για να φτιάξουν μια παρεξήγηση. Υπάρχει όμως πιο γοητευτική παρεξήγηση; Και η πραγματική σοφία δεν είναι άραγε η ικανότητα να ερωτεύεται κανείς ξανά και ξανά;

By the duty to be happy, I thus refer to the ideology... that urges us to evaluate everything in terms of pleasure and displeasure...on the one hand, we have to make the most of our lives; on the other, we have to be sorry and punish ourselves if we don't succeed in doing so. This is a perversion of a very beautiful idea: that everyone has a right to control his own destiny and to improve his life.

Η μοναξιά μες στο ζευγάρι είναι πολύ μεγαλύτερη απ' τη μοναξιά του μοναχικού.

Prefer oamenilor cărţile: sunt deja scrise, le deschizi, le închizi după voie. O fiinţă omenească, nu ştii niciodată de unde s-o apuci, nu poţi s-o rânduieşti sau s-o deplasezi după cum ţi-e cheful.

Όλα μπορεί κανείς να τα συγχωρέσει σ' έναν άνθρωπο, της έλεγα, τη χυδαιότητά του, τη βλακεία του, όλα εκτός από την ανία που σου προκαλεί.

Είχα κάνει τη φιλενάδα μου φοβερή για να μπορέσω αργότερα να τη βρω ακόμα πιο ασήμαντη. Ο υπερβολικός θαυμασμός κρύβει μέσα του το μίσος. Είναι σα να γκρεμίζεις από πριν αυτόν που έστησες στο βάθρο.

Sunt victorii care duc la un impas, tot aşa cum sunt înfrângeri care deschid căi noi.

Τι είναι ένα ζευγάρι; Η απάρνηση της ζωής με αντάλλαγμα την ασφάλεια, το άχαρο πρόσωπο του νόμιμου έρωτα.

Totusi, destul de iute simplicitatea actului sexual m-a plictisit; in cele mai rele excese percepeam monotonie si patos mult. Oricat de puternica era desfatarea, ea nu era niciodata destul de puternica. Mi-am dat seama atunci ca trupul e limitat, spre deosebire de gand.

Όταν φύγουν πια όλα τα εμπόδια, ο πόθος χάνει την ουσία του. Γιατί ο πόθος είναι γέννημα της πονηριάς: αγαπάει τους πλάγιους δρόμους της παρανομίας, η ευθεία γραμμή τον κουράζει.

Είχα διαλέξει το κακό επειδή ήταν βολικό, γιατί προτιμούσα να είμαι κάτι παρά τίποτα.

Μην ξεχνάτε ωστόσο πως δεν αγαπάει κανείς τίποτα αν δεν αγαπάει τα πάντα.

Κανένας πόνος κοντά σου δε φτάνει τον πόνο που θα ένιωθα αν σ' έχανα.

În fond, n-ai fost niciodată decât o creație a minții mele, un idol pe care-l susțineam cu brațele; vedeam numai idolul, nu și efortul brațelor mele.

Pe cine sa acuzi, vai, daca nu „pe noi doi" si ce amaraciune e mai mare decât sa-l ucizi pe cel pe care-l adori prin simplul fapt de a fi împreuna?

Το χειρότερο δεν είναι πάντα η αποτυχία αλλά οι θεατές που την επικυρώνουν.

Адът на нашите съвременници носи името празнота. Раят, който те търсят, е пълнотата.

Nu râde de autobuz: nu există un loc de elecţiune pentru o dragoste la prim a vedere. Chiar şi o cutie pe roţi poate deveni anticamera paradisului atunci când crezi în hazard.

Victims becoming torturers is such a classic historical pattern that we could formulate, regarding any revolution whatever, this iron law : combat oppression; beware of the oppressed.

Η πραγματική ομορφιά είναι μια απόλαυση της πολλαπλότητας. Βρίσκεται στην ποικιλία των μορφών, στις εναλλαγές των προτύπων. Οι πιο όμορφες γυναίκες είναι αυτές που δε γνωρίζουμε ακόμα.

Un cuplu care durează este, în mod paradoxal, un cuplu care acceptă că este muritor, și se trăiește pe sine ca fiind releul unei aventuri care-l depășește. Puterea cuplului amoros stă în aceea că este imperfect și maleabil, protejat chiar de ceea ce-l face vulnerabil. Fiind imperfect, el poate fi reformat la nesfârșit. El rămâne, în ceea ce are esențial, o promisiune aruncată peste abisul îndoielii, un pariu pe longevitate, un act de încredere în puterile fecunde ale timpului.

Today, luxury resides in everything that is becoming rare: communion with nature, silence, meditation, slowness rediscovered, the pleasure of living out of step with others, studious idleness, the enjoyment of the major works of the mind - these are all privileges that cannot be bought because they are literally priceless.

We are not afraid of death,” the suicide bombers say to show their superiority to ordinary people. But they are afraid of life, constantly trampling on it, slandering it, destroying it, and training children still in their cradles for martyrdom. Observers have noted that the photos of terrorists taken a few hours before they made their attacks show people who are serene and at peace. They have eliminated doubt: they know. It is the paradox of open societies that they seem to be disordered, unjust, threatened by crime, loneliness, and drugs because they display their indignity before the whole world, never ceasing to admit their defects, whereas other, more oppressive societies seem harmonious because the press and the opposition are muzzled. “Where there are no visible conflicts, there is no freedom,” Montesquieu said.

Ό,τι προερχόταν από κείνη ήταν σημαδεμένο με ιερότητα. Αγαπούσα αυτή την πρόζα των σκοταδιών γιατί αγαπούσα τη συγγραφέα της. Λατρεύοντας αυτές τις ταπεινές ύλες τις μεταμόρφωνα. Μέσα σε ένα σκηνικό οχετού γινόμουν αγγελικός από την υπερβολική κτηνωδία.

Some people's happiness is always other people's kitsch.

Love has triumphed over marriage but now it is destroying it from inside

Și vai, biet plugar pe pământurile ei roz și roditoare, nu mă înălțam niciodată la nivelul delirului ei.

Self-denigration is all too clearly a form of indirect self-glorification.

Astăzi vrei totul, imedat şi simultan: dragoste nebună, dar şi siguranţă, fidelitate, dar şi deschidere faţă de lume, copilul, dar şi libertate absolută, monogamia, dar şi ameţelile libertinajului. Sunt cereri contradictorii şi infantile. (...) Cuplul bazat pe dragoste, sentimentul cel mai fiabil şi fragil cu putinţă, este condamnat la viaţă scurtă şi la criză. Libertatea sexuală este o grea povară pentru tineri. Ei trăiesc nostalgia vechiului limbaj al dragostei compus din prudenţă, înţelepciune, melancolie... .

حين تفشل الرأسمالية ، تثير نقمتنا بما تخلق من شدائد وحين تنجح تغيظنا بما تبثه من بشاعة وما تروجه من بضائع رديئة ، بضائع متراكمة لا حاجة إليها ، وكأن الاستهلاك المحموم أصبح الهدف الأقصى للحضارة الغربية ، ويترتب عن ذلك انكفاء الأفراد على أنفسهم ، وضعف اهتمامهم بالعالم ، فلا يرون في السياسة سوى امتداد لإدارة شركات تسمى فرنسا وألمانيا وإيطاليا وإسبانيا .

Turistii se adunau de acum in batalioane organizate inaintea catedralei, mitraliindu-I fatada cu o docilitate unaninma. In sort sau in bermude atacau plini de hotarare locurile sfinte, cu degetul pe tragaciul camerei de luat vederi, gata sa-l surprinda pe Dumnezeu in flagrant delict. Turistul nu crede in lucruri decat dupa ce le-a transfigurat in poze.

الإقتصاد الجيد ليس فقط هو الإقتصاد الناجع ، إنه أيضًا اقتصاد محتشم ورفيق أنسي ينمو دون ضجيج ودون تسميم مجموع الجسم الاجتماعي . ولا يمكنه مهما وقع أن يصبح الجانب المقدس من الحياة ، وإنما الجانب الإداري من المدينة ، إنه سيظل كما كان دومًا شأنًا تدبيريًا .

Ce să-i faci: nu rănim cu adevărat decât fiinţele ce ne sunt dragi, nu-i nicio plăcere să te iei de nişte necunoscuţi. Şi-apoi, tot ceea ce numim civilizaţie se bazează pe aprofundarea cruzimii. Ferocitatea prosperă astăzi în cuvinte, se spiritualizează din pricina discreditării violenţei fizice. Generaţia noastră, care se mândreşte cu faptul că a alungat barbaria, a silit-o să se întoarcă mascată. Nimeni nu-şi mai dozează forţa cu pumnii sau cu muşchii, toţi ne-o întărim cu mintea sau cu limba. Societatea noastră a devenit astfel mai rafinată, dar încă n-a statornicit pedepse pentru îndreptarea enormelor pagube comise de batjocură şi calomnie.

We are not going to confine women to the home, cover their heads, lengthen their skirts, or beat up gay people, prohibit alcohol, censure film, theater, and literature, and codify tolerance in order to respect the overly sensitive whims of a few sanctimonious persons.

The obsession with security at any price petrifies us, and we increase our fear by trying to eliminate risk. That is what is ridiculous about the great outcries in the media: we wake up in order to demand more passivity, a better protected life. The challenge is not only to decrease the amount of space the media devote to hazards but also to increase our ability to resist misfortunes. To augment our endurance rather than our panic.

The critical spirit rises up against itself and consumes its form. But instead of coming out of this process greater and purified, it devours itself in a kind of self-cannibalism and takes a morose pleasure in annihilating itself. Hyper-criticism eventuates in self-hatred, leaving behind it only ruins. A new dogma of demolition is born out of the rejection of dogmas. Thus we Euro-Americans are supposed to have only one obligation: endlessly atoning for what we have inflicted on other parts of humanity. How can we fail to see that this leads us to live off self-denunciation while taking a strange pride in being the worst? Self-denigration is all too clearly a form of indirect self-glorification. Evil can come only from us; other people are motivated by sympathy, good will, candor. This is the paternalism of the guilty conscience: seeing ourselves as the kings of infamy is still a way of staying on the crest of history.

Our societies put into the category of the pathological what other cultures consider normal - the preponderance of pain - and put into the category of the normal and even the necessary what others see as exceptional - the feeling of happiness. The question is not whether we are more or less happy than our ancestors: our conception of happiness has changed, and to change utopias is to change constraints. But we are probably living in the world's first societies that make people unhappy not to be happy.

We now have every right except the right not to be blissful.

Sentimentul este ceva ce se poate pierde ca un ceas, epuiza încet ca un cont în bancă şi regăsi ca o pălărie.

Το χιούμορ είναι η ευχαρίστηση που απολαμβάνουν τα δύο φύλα όταν συμφωνούν να ξεχάσουν για λίγο αυτά που τους χωρίζουν.

Το θαύμα του έρωτα είναι πως συμπτύσσει τον κόσμο γύρω από το πλάσμα που σε μαγεύει, η φρίκη του έρωτα είναι πως συμπτύσσει τον κόσμο γύρω από το πλάσμα που σε αλυσοδένει.

العولمة هي قبل كل شيء هي تغير في السلم ، وفي الحدة والسرعة ، إنها تترجم هذه اللحظة التاريخية التي أصبحت فيها الأرض تعي حدودها والبشر يعون ترابطهم العفوي .

Where there are no visible conflicts, there is no freedom,” Montesquieu said.

A whole intellectual intercourse is established: clerks are appointed to maintain it like the ancient guardians of the sacred flame and issue permits to think and speak.

The far Left has never gotten over communism and once again demonstrates that its true passion is not freedom, but slavery in the name of justice.

Europe got over the loss of its colonies much more quickly than the colonies got over their loss of Europe.

O tempo, esse grande ladrão, rouba continuamente; mas uma coisa é ser despojado com magnificência e envelhecer com a consciência de uma existência plena e rica, outra é ser roído miseravelmente hora após hora por coisas que de todo não conhecemos. O inferno dos contemporâneos chama-se monotonia. O paraíso que procuram a plenitude. Existem aqueles que viveram e aqueles que duraram.

Dragostea înseamnă evident două solitudini care se împerechează ca să creeze o neînţelegere. Există însă neînţelegere mai seducătoare? Iar adevărata înţelepciune nu rezidă oare într-o capacitate neîncetată de a te îndrăgosti din nou? Începutul unei legături Îşi imprimă stilul asupra a tot ceea ce va urma: clipă magică asupra căreia vorbele amanţilor vor reveni neostoit pentru a povesti până la tocire dulceaţa primelor zile. De fapt, primul contact se află de partea speranţei, el repune pe linia de plutire visul nebunesc al unei iubiri autentice, definitive. Iată de ce există întâlniri prea frumoase care ucid sentimentul, întâlniri banale care emit o judecată prematură asupra josniciei relaţiilor, altele în sfârşit purtătoare de exigenţe cărora amanţii nu li se pot sustrage fără să decadă.

However, its ultimate motivation is fanatics’ hostility to the principle of an open society in which formal equality is recognized for everyone. It is our existence as such that is intolerable for them.

Every war, every crime against humanity among the damned of the Earth is supposed to be somewhat our fault and ought to lead us to confess our guilt, to pay endlessly for being a member of the bloc of wealthy nations.

Ο ρατσισμός είναι ηλίθιος. Χτυπάει τη συλλογικότητα μέσα στο άτομο, κάνοντας έτσι ένα διπλό λάθος. Αφήνει απείραχτο τον προσβεβλημένο και προκαλεί τη συσπείρωση του λαού στον οποίον ανήκει. Ενώνει, δηλαδή, αντί να διαιρεί.

Ο χορός είναι ένας χώρος δίχως νόμους που ελέγχεται όμως από το βλέμμα του καθενός πάνω σ’ όλους. Η ακαμψία, το σφίξιμο είναι ένα έγκλημα για το μάτι, σφάλμα ασυγχώρητο σε μια τέχνη αφιερωμένη στη θέα και στη φαινομενικότητα.

Worrying about what does not yet exist, is that a gesture of love or the worst kind of argument putting pressure on the living, an excess of scrupulous conscience? For fear of soiling our hands, we prefer to cut them off right now. [...] How far can responsibility go without turning into an abstraction? To extend it to all coming generations is to empty it of its meaning, to put a titanic weight on our shoulders. By being accountable for everything, we are accountable for nothing. We can receive no pardon for our errors, since those who would be in a position to grant it have not yet been born! A vicious circle: isn't sacrificing people today for the benefit of those to come also a way of penalizing the latter [...]?

Γιατί η ευτυχία έχει μια ιστορία που δεν μοιάζει με τη συνηθισμένη ιστορία. Είναι μια ταύτιση της μνήμης με τη λησμονιά: μνήμες από στιγμές τόσο πυκνές που σβήνονται από την ίδια τους την τελειότητα, απαθανατισμένες σε ένα αιώνιο φλουτάρισμα.

Progressive thought is blind when it suggests that there can be no anti-white racism or an anti-semitism among the formerly oppressed or the young people in the projects because they themselves have suffered from this evil. They are the victims; they are exempt from the prejudices that affect the majority of the population. But the reverse is true: racism is multiplying at exponential rates among groups and communities, taboos are collapsing, and everything is explained in terms of physical characteristics, identity, purity, and difference. and this is a racism that is all the more certain that it is right because it is regarded as a legitimate reaction on the part of the persecuted. now we see the obsession with the pedigree and the old distinctions derived from slavery being revived, and prejudices accumulating in the name of racism. This is the end of the concept of humanity as union in diversity and the triumph of human species incompatible with each other.

إن المجتمع السليم هو ذلك الذي يُضاعف فرص الجميع ، ويسمح لكل الناس ببذل الجهد وإثبات القدرات دون أن يدمروا أنفسهم داخل بنية جد قاسية . فهذا المجتمع لا يكون سليمًا إلا في حالة واحدة ، هي أن يكون متكتمًا ، لا يكاد يرى ، ولا يفرض نفسه على مواطنيه .

We are not afraid of death,” the suicide bombers say to show their superiority to ordinary people. But they are afraid of life, constantly trampling on it, slandering it, destroying it, and training children still in their cradles for martyrdom.

لم يعد احد في مأمن ، فحتى الأماكن أكثر سكينة ، والمواقع الأقصى ، أصابها التلوث ، فالتهديد يمكن أن يحل في أي مكان وعند أي لحظة ، على شكل كارثة بيئية أو نووية أو كيميائية أو إرهابية . إننا نعرف الآخرين بالقدر الكافي الذي يسمح لنا بالحذر منهم أو التهاون بهم ، ولا نعرفهم بالقدر الذي يمكننا من محبتهم أو الشعور بالتضامن معهم في مصائبهم . فالإنفتاح الذي وعدت به الحداثة الإمكانية الهائلة للخروج من المحلي ، من الأسرة ، من مواطن الولادة أفضى إلى انغلاق جديد ، فليس هو بتوسيع للأفق وإنما ضبطه في شكل سور مغلق ، وها قد أصبح محكومًا علينا أن نتقاسم نوعًا ما المعمورة مع 6 مليار من جنسنا .

Become your own best friend, acquire self-esteem, think positively, dare to live in harmony, etc. - the multitude of books on the subject suggests that it isn't so easy. Happiness not only constitutes, along with the market in spirituality, the biggest industry of the age; it is also and very precisely the new moral order, and that is why depression is spreading and every rebellion against this slimy hedonism elicits unhappiness and distress. We are guilty of not being content, a problem for which we have to answer to everyone else and before our inner jurisdiction as well.

As good heirs of the Bible, we think that a great misfortune necessarily follows a great infraction. In this respect the intellectual caste, in our world, is the penitential class par excellence, continuing the role of the clergy under the Old Regime. We have to call its members what they are: officials of original sin.

The average European, whether male or female, is extremely sensitive, always ready to shoulder the blame for the poverty of Africa or Asia, to sorrow over the world’s problems, to assume responsibility for them, always ready to ask what Europeans can do for the South rather than asking what the South could do for itself.

The 'destiny that eyes us from the future' makes us neglect our duties to those close to us. Third-Worldism stressed the crimes of colonialism in order to avoid speaking about the crimes of the decolonized; ecologists, wholly absorbed in their science-fiction ethics, care more about our possible misdeeds than about present injustices.

Îmi era rușine de hrana mea posomorâtă față de căutarea orgiacă a Rebeccăi și-mi treceam sub tăcere plăcerea atât de repede săturată pentru că era momentul separării trupurilor, al singurătății regăsite. Disprețuiam acele flori albe pe care i le expediam în pântece, buchet mizerabil care, oferindu-mi plăcerea, mă priva de obiectul ei.

Happiness is no longer a stroke of good luck, a moment of splendor wrung from the monotony of the everyday, it is our condition, our destiny. when the desirable becomes possible, it is immediately integrated into the category of the necessary. What used to be edenic is now ordinary. Social status is no longer determined soley by wealth or power, but also by appearance: it is not enough to be rich, you also have to look good, and this produces a new kind of discrimination and invidious comparison that is no less severe. There is a whole ethic of seeming to feel good about oneself that governs us and is supported by the smiling intoxication of advertising and merchandise.

According to Auster, proximity is deceptive, and anonymity is not only the misfortune of the masses, of the cities, but also a cancer gnawing away the family and marital unit. Human contact often masks a gulf that only death or distance can bridge. We are separated from others by those very things that also connect us; we are separated from ourselves by the illusion of self-knowledge. Just as we must forget ourselves in order to reach a certain level of self-truth, we must also leave others in order to find them in the prism of memory and separation. That which is closest is often the most enigmatic, and distance, like mourning and wandering, is also an instrument of redemption.

Instead of admitting that happiness is an art of the indirect that is achieved or not through secondary goals, it is presented as if it were an immediately accessible objective, and recipes are provided. Whatever the method chosen, psychic, somatic, chemical, spiritual, or computer-based, the presupposition is everywhere the same: contentment is within your reach, all you have to do is undergo a "positive conditioning," an "ethical discipline" that will lead you to it. This amounts to an astonishing inversion of the will, which seeks to establish its protectorate over psychic states and feelings that are traditionally outside its jurisdiction. It wears itself our trying to change what does not depend on it (at the risk of not dealing with what can be changed).

Seeking to eliminate pain nonetheless puts it at the heart of the system. As a result, today we suffer from not wanting to suffer just as one can make oneself ill by trying to be perfectly healthy. Furthermore, we now tell ourselves a strange fable about a society completely devoted to hedonism, and for which everything becomes an irritation, a torture. Unhappiness is not only unhappiness; it is, worse yet, a failure to be happy.

Thus it takes the imminence of an infinite calamity to redeem the human adventure. On this level our age testifies to a narcissism of malediction that rips it out of its insignificance and reaffirms its centrality: by designating itself as damned, it merely emphasizes its singularity while apparently depreciating itself: 'Our period is not accidentally ephemeral; ephemerality is its essence. It cannot pass into another period but only collapse' (Anders, La Menace nucleaire, pag. 100). What a relief to know that we are not living in a little province of time but in the historic moment when time itself is going to be engulfed! What presumption, and what naivite, to believe that we are the pinnacle of history! This self-abasement is a form of vainglory. If we can't be the best, we can still be the worst. Behind their lamentations, the catastrophists are bursting with self-importance.

Even if I lead the most stunted, lethargic life, I still have the feeling of being caught up in an unprecedented whirlwind that has to be slowed before I can do anything else. Trying to escape the busyness that arises from the emptiness of life by resorting to still more emptiness, that is the vicious circle that threatens us. Whereas in our colorless lives we need tranquility less than authentic activities, important and meaningful events, dazzling moments that prostrate us or transport us. Time, that great thief, is constantly stealing from us; but it is one thing to be robbed magnificently and to grow old in the awareness that one has lived a full and rich life, and it is another to be cheaply gnawed away, hour by hour, for things that we have not even known. Our contemporaries' hell is called platitude. The paradise they seek is called plenitude. Some have lived; the others have simply endured.

To happiness in the strict sense, we may prefer pleasure, as a brief moment of ecstasy stolen in the course of things, gaiety, the lighthearted drunkenness that accompanies life's development, and especially joy, which presupposes surprise and elation. For nothing can compete with the irruption in our lives of an event or a being that ravages and ravishes us. There is always too much to desire, to discover, to love. And we leave the stage having hardly tasted the feast.

Станете собствения си най-добър приятел, спечелете уважението към себе си, мислете положително, осмелете се да живеете хармонично и т.н.": многобройните книги на тази тема ни карат да мислим, че това не е така лесно. Щастието заедно с пазара на духовността представлява не само най-голямата индустрия на времето, то е и съвсем определено новия морален ред: оттук започва разпространението на депресията, оттук всеки бунт срещу угнетителния хедонизъм постоянно напомня за нещастието и за отчаянието. Ето ни виновни, че не се чувстваме добре - зло, за което трябва да отговаряме пред всички останали и пред вътрешната си юрисдикция.

Formerly irreconcilable enemies, morality and happiness have fused; today, it is being unhappy that is immoral; the superego has moved into the citadel of felicity and governs it with an iron hand. The end of culpability comes at the price of endless torment. Pleasure is no longer a promise but a problem. The idea of full satisfaction has replaced that of constraint, and it has in turn become a requirement that full satisfaction be achieved. Each of us is responsible for being in good shape, in a good mood, and no longer has to renounce anything; instead, we have to adapt to a process of improvement that rejects any resistance to change. Order has ceased to condemn us or deprive us; now it shows us, with maternal solicitude, how to fulfill ourselves.

La cultura lleva a cabo síntesis deseables en el terreno artístico, donde préstamos, plagios y combinaciones forman la sustancia misma de la fecundidad creadora, pero que son imposibles en la existencia cotidiana. No puede uno beneficiarse del estilo de vida de otra civilización sin renunciar poco o mucho a la suya propia. A menos que llamemos cosmopolitismo al hecho de comer cuscús, tacos mexicanos, arroz cantonés, de llevar kimonos, escuchar música oriental o teñirse el pelo con henna. Pero sobre todo ningún libro, cuadro o pieza musical son en sí mismos portadores de un determinado precepto moral. Creer, por ejemplo, que 'el espíritu de la novela', es decir, 'la subversión lúdica de los dogmas y de las ortodoxias', podría actuar como conciencia crítica, erradicar nuestras pulsiones identitarias, pone de manifiesto un punto de vista muy generoso pero inverificable.

Terrível alternância da pergunta: o que há de novo?e da resposta: nada a assinalar! Se o remorso, segundo Baudelaire, é impotência para desfazer, pelo contrário, a banalidade é a incapacidade para fazer, para inaugurar o novo, para abrir uma brecha na massa dos instantes todos iguais. A este mundo caseiro não falta no entanto sedução para quem deseje deixar-se viver, ser levado como uma barca por um rio abaixo, delegar nas datas do calendário, à passagem das estações, o cuidado de nos dirigir. Fruicção sedativa desta rotina: com ela tudo é evidente, reveste de necessidade o que à primeira vista era gratuito. Nela funciona-se em regime quase automático. A agonia que a alguns provocam os domingos ou as férias - esse grande vazio que é necessário preencher - nasce dessa ruptura momentânea de uma regra que enfada mais do que tranquiliza. Para a maioria, portanto, a maldição do quotidiano é de nos acompanhar 24 sobre 24 horas quando gostaríamos de o desmontar a nosso bel-prazer, de lhe dedicar algumas migalhas, enfim, de o colocar numa posição crítica. «Oh vida, amo-te mas não todos os dias» (Cerroli), admirável frase que tudo resume.

There is no solution for Europe other than deepening the democratic values it invented. It does not need a geographical extension, absurdly drawn out to the ends of the Earth; what it needs is an intensification of its soul, a condensation of its strengths. It is one of the rare places on this planet where something absolutely unprecedented is happening, without its people even knowing it, so much do they take miracles for granted. Beyond imprecation and apology, we have to express our delighted amazement that we live on this continent and not another. Europe, the planet's moral compass, has sobered up after the intoxication of conquest and has acquired a sense of the fragility of human affairs. It has to rediscover its civilizing capabilities, not recover its taste for blood and carnage, chiefly for spiritual advances. But the spirit of penitence must not smother the spirit of resistance. Europe must cherish freedom as its most precious possession and teach it to schoolchildren. It must also celebrate the beauty of discord and divest itself of its sick allergy to confrontation, not be afraid to point out the enemy, and combine firmness with regard to governments and generosity with regard to peoples. In short, it must simply reconnect with the subversive richness of its ideas and the vitality of its founding principles. Naturally, we will continue to speak the double language of fidelity and rupture, to oscillate between being a prosecutor and a defense lawyer. That is our mental hygiene: we are forced to be both the knife and the wound, the blade that cuts and the hand that heals. The first duty of a democracy is not to ruminate on old evils, it is to relentlessly denounce its present crimes and failures. This requires reciprocity, with everyone applying the same rule. We must have done with the blackmail of culpability, cease to sacrifice ourselves to our persecutors. A policy of friendship cannot be founded on the false principle: we take the opprobrium, you take the forgiveness. Once we have recognized any faults we have, then the prosecution must turn against the accusers and subject them to constant criticism as well. Let us cease to confuse the necessary evaluation of ourselves with moralizing masochism. There comes a time when remorse becomes a second offence that adds to the first without cancelling it. Let us inject in others a poison that has long gnawed away at us: shame. A little guilty conscience in Tehran, Riyadh, Karachi, Moscow, Beijing, Havana, Caracas, Algiers, Damascus, Yangon, Harare, and Khartoum, to mention them alone, would do these governments, and especially their people, a lot of good. The fines gift Europe could give the world would be to offer it the spirit of critical examination that it has conceived and that has saved it from so many perils. It is a poisoned gift, but one that is indispensable for the survival of humanity.

Ništa nije tako neodređeno kao pojam sreće, kao ta stara, obeščašćena, otrcana, dozlaboga dosadna riječ, koju bismo željeli prognati iz jezika. U samoj je naravi tog pojma da bude zagonetka, izvor stalnih rasprava- to je voda koja može poprimiti bilo kakav oblik, ali nema oblika u koji bi se mogla strpati.

Nismo protivnici sreće, nego protivnici pretvaranja tog tananog osjećaja u pravu kolektivnu drogu. Već sada dobivamo želju da odgovorimo: odveć volim život da bih želio samo biti sretan!

Sreća je krhka ne zato što pada pod teretom zabrana nego zato što se iscrpljuje čim uzme daha.

that we are not surprised to find John Paul II mentioning euthanasia and the last instants of life and praising “the person who voluntarily accepts suffering and forgoes treatment to reduce pain in order to retain all his lucidity and, if he is a believer, to take part in the Lord’s Passion,” even if–and the concession is important–such “heroic” behavior “cannot be considered a duty for everyone.

Sunt gata sa dau totul cui nu cere nimic, dar nu vreau sa cedez nimic cui asteapta totul de la celalalt.

Cu cat traiesti mai putin, cu atat ai mai putin chef sa traiesti.

Guilt, as the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner has diagnosed it in his book La Tyrannie de la pénitence, has become a moral intoxicant in Western Europe.

The dominant passion of our time is fear…We are living in a post-technological Middle Ages. Our mentality is that of the medieval peasant serf who sees maleficent forces in nature…We are living in a society which has a horror of risk and therefore is afraid of its own shadow.

Creștinismul deja făcuse din șederea pe pământ locul de înfruntare nemiloasă între mântuire și damnare, anticamera paradisului sau a infernului (cu această clasă de recuperare postumă care este purgatoriul, de creație tardivă în istoria Bisericii). Viețile noastre de laici nu sunt mai puțin tensionate între posibilitatea de reușită și cea de eșec. Cu aceste deosebiri agravante: pentru noi totul se joacă aici, într-un scurt interval de timp; și în vreme ce religia stabilește dinainte valorile de respectat, noi ne decretăm singuri criteriile de succes sau de eșec, cu riscul de a nu le vedea recunoscute de ceilalți. Freudismul a detronat, fără îndoială, subiectul de pe piedestalul pe care îl așezase secolul al XIX-lea, a umilit mult omul, i-a luat eului prerogativele sale de monarh absolut, a deschis în domnia acestuia breșe și abisuri amețitoare. (...) La această povară se adaugă alta: concurența tuturor cu toți, consecință e egalizării condițiilor. (...) Invidia, resentimentul, gelozia și ura neputincioasă, înainte de a fi urâte cusururi ale naturii umane, sunt consecințele directe ale revoluției democratice.

In the eighteenth century, historians tell us, 'valentinage,' from which Valentine's Day was derived, allowed wives in northern France to make love, on a few days each year and with the knowledge of their husbands, with a 'valentine' of their choosing.

(...) acest paradox al individului contemporan grijuliu până la exces cu independența sa, dar care cere, în același timp, atenție și asistență, care înțelege să îmbine dubla imagine de disident și bebeluș, să vorbească limbajul dublu al nonconformismului și al cererii insațiabile. (...) Slăbiciunea și teama sunt însă inerente libertății. Prin natura sa, individul occidental este o ființă rănită care plătește nemăsuratul orgoliu de a voi să fie el însuși cu o esențială precaritate. Și cum societățile noastre au abolit sprijinul tradiției și au relativizat credințele, ele își constrâng - ca să spunem așa - membrii să se refugieze, în caz de adversitate, în comportamente magice, în substitute facile, în plângere reînnoită.

de acum înainte avem toate drepturile, mai puţin acela de a nu fi fericiţi.

Что такое пара? Отказ от существования в обмен на безопасность, неприглядный лик законной любви. Это замкнутое пространство, делающее банальными людей, меньше всего склонных к банальности, придает тяжеловесность самым подвижным. Я видел вокруг себя тех, кто погружался в посредственность, старел в своем смирении, терял по одному все устремления юности ради топкой тины семейного диктата. Я видел смелых мужчин, свободных женщин, которых совместная жизнь расхолаживала, обесцвечивала — в паре их острота притуплялась. Я ненавидел мимикрию сожителей, их готовность принять изъяны законного брака, их липкое соучастие вплоть до измены, которая их еще больше сплачивает.

— Если ты должен мне изменить, пусть хотя бы с той, что красивее меня! Я отвергал подобную сделку: — Ты для меня не красива и не уродлива, ты всегда одинакова, и это постоянство удручает. Будь все женщины земли такими уродками, как хотелось бы тебе, я все равно волочился бы за ними, просто ради удовольствия что-то изменить, насладиться вкусом другой кожи. Истинная красота — это наслаждение числом, она таится в разнообразии телесных воплощений, во множестве лиц: самые красивые женщины те, кого еще не знаешь.

Вам сдана плохая карта: привязанность другого существа вселяет тревогу сразу по двум причинам — сначала вы удивляетесь, почему все остальные не любят вас столь же пылко; затем начинаете подозревать обожающую вас женщину в какой-то слабости. Раз она меня любит, значит, у нее нет выхода: кто мог бы превозносить такую недостойную личность, как я, кроме человека еще более жалкого, который поэтому и цепляется за ничтожество, подобное мне? В сущности, именно нежность Ребекки, отнюдь не повышая ее ценности в моих глазах, заставляла меня искать любви новых женщин — и так до бесконечности.

Мы с Ребеккой составляли стандартный гетеросексуальный дуэт, такие вы можете видеть повсюду в парках, кафе, дансингах: влажные глаза, сухие руки, промытый с мылом зад, половые органы в полной готовности доказать любовь, нежелание обременять себя детьми и стариками — в общем, превосходная закрытая ракушка.

Человек, возникший на перекрестке дорог, кажется нам воплощением рая. Ошибка состоит в желании задержать это случайно мелькнувшее лицо

Разлука — это предвестие разрыва, поскольку она приучает нас к мысли, что мы можем жить друг без друга.

Больше всего опасаемся мы самого дорогого для нас существа. И ревность — всего лишь форма для запуганного воображения, преобразующего в уверенность малейшее подозрение. Все эти муки учили меня любви — чувству, без которого я вполне мог бы обойтись. Если бы любовники были способны признаться, когда связь их завершается, сколько они выстрадали друг от друга из-за неуверенности, порожденной взаимной страстью, сколько провели бессонных ночей, мучительных минут в попытках разгадать тайну другого! Увы, когда они это делают, признание не имеет уже никакой цены, они перестали любить, они слишком рады избавиться от измучившей их привязанности.

Несомненно, любовь — это два одиночества, совокупившиеся с целью породить недоразумение. Но разве существует более обольстительное недоразумение? А истинная мудрость разве не состоит в способности беспрестанно влюбляться? Начало связи накладывает свой отпечаток на все, что последует: магическое мгновение, к которому неутомимо возвращаются в разговорах любовники, истрепывающие словами сладость первых дней. Вообще, первое соприкосновение сродни надежде, оно вновь и вновь пробуждает безумную мечту о подлинной, совершенной любви. Вот почему есть встречи слишком прекрасные, убивающие чувство, встречи банальные, предвещающие пошлость отношений, встречи, насыщенные ожиданиями, от которых любовники уклониться не могут, ибо это чревато полным поражением.

Я не сумел уклониться от уверенности, что подлинная жизнь обретается в другом месте, вдали от подлых уловок домашнего очага и добродетельных глупостей безумной любви (которая, в сущности, являет собой верх безразличия, ибо цель ее — сделать терпимым на веки вечные общество одного и того же человека). Меня выводила из себя мысль, что я обречен тащить за собой эту дряблую связь в бесконечный мрак исковерканного существования.