Quotes from Amos Oz

Ta je planina bila naš susjed iza zida - težak, zatvoren i bezglasan susjed, vremešna i melankoli?na planina s navikama starog neženje koji uvijek održava potpunu tišinu, tako pristojna planina, zimska, koja nikad ne pomi?e namještaj, ne prima goste, ne bu?i i ne smeta, no kroz naše zajedni?ke zidove uvijek su prodirali, kao lak i uporan miris plijesni, hladno?a, mrak, tišina i vlaga turobnoga susjeda.

En el mundo hay una profunda, constante e irremediable injusticia erótica. Esa injusticia convierte en ridículos e irrisorios todos nuestros incansables esfuerzos por construir una sociedad más igualitaria.

Una vez aprendió, tal vez de su esposa Stefa, que el tiempo es algo subjetivo, una especie de intensa emoción. Y por eso mostraba un amargo desprecio por el tiempo.

ein Grund für die Zunahme der Wellen des Fanatismus ist vielleicht die wachsende Sehnsucht nach einfachen Lösungen, nach Erlösung 'auf einen Schlag'.

Nicht seine Lautstärke mach jemanden zum Fanatiker, sondern vor allem seine Toleranz beziehungsweise sein Mangel an Toleranz gegenüber den Stimmen Andersdenkender.

Really," "really and truly," those code words which barely conceal a lie.)

At the very least literature should not preen itself on mocking us and picking at our wounds, as modern writers in our days do ad nauseam. All they can write is satire, irony, parody (including self-parody), vicious sarcasm, all steeped in malice.

The fanatic is always in a hurry to fall on your neck to save you, because he loves you. He loves you unconditionally. But, conversely, he might grab you and strangle you if he discovers that you are beyond redemption. Lost. And if that is the case, he is obliged to hate you and rid the world of you.

Denk eraan dat je alles kant en klaar hebt aangetroffen, van sterrenlicht tot olijven, of zeep, van klein tot groot, van laken tot herfst. Het kan geen kwaad om in ruil een paar fatsoenlijke regels na te laten.

in all kinds of colors that don't have names. In general, I think there are far more colors and smells than there are words. The

O castigo dos desconfiados é suspeitar de tudo, dia e noite. Suspeitar até de si mesmos e das próprias suspeitas

And so for me the expression "ordinary child" became a term of utter contempt. It was better to grow up to be a stray dog, better to be a cripple or a mental retard, better to be a girl even, provided I didn't become an "ordinary child" like the rest of them, provided I could go on being "so very special!" or "really out of the ordinary!

It was late December 1938, and since then I have never been abroad, except maybe in my thoughts. And I shall never go. It's not because the Land of Israel is so wonderful, it's because I now believe that all journeys are ridiculous: the only journey from which you don't always come back empty-handed is the journey inside yourself.

Solo en casa un día de invierno al atardecer. Eran las cinco o las cinco y media, en la calle ya hacía frío y estaba oscuro, la lluvia azotada por el viento arañaba las contraventanas de hierro, mis padres se habían ido a tomar un té a casa de Mala y Stashek Rodnitzky, en

He thoroughly abhorred those bohemians who aped the ways of Paris and Hollywood, and he had nothing but disgust for all those cynical, uprooted intellectuals who knew only how to pour scorn and sarcasm on everything, together with their scribbles about modern art, which amounted to no more than the emperor's new clothes.

The important things were sensitivity to impressions, intuitive judgment, character assessment, and also patient bargaining skills. It had never so much as occurred to him to jump over walls or leap from roof to roof.

No entanto, não afirmo que qualquer um que levante a voz contra alguma coisa seja um fanático. Não sugiro que qualquer um que manifeste opiniões veementes seja um fanático, claro que não. Digo que a semente do fanatismo brota ao adoptar-se uma atitude de superioridade moral que impeça a obtenção de consensos.

Without a wound, there is no author

He wrote more or less the same way as he dreamed or masturbated: a mixture of compulsion, enthusiasm, despair, disgust, and wretchedness. And in those days he also had an insatiable curiosity to try to understand why people hurt each other, and themselves, without meaning to at all.

But why write about things that exist even without you? Why describe in words things that are not words?

Moreover, what purpose, if any, is served by your stories? Whom do they benefit?

Muito cuidado, o fanatismo é extremamente infeccioso, mais contagioso do que qualquer vírus. Pode-se contrair fanatismo facilmente, até mesmo ao tentar vencê-lo ou combatê-lo. Basta ler os jornais ou ver televisão para verificar como as pessoas se convertem facilmente em fanáticos antifanáticos, em fanáticos antifundamentalistas, em cruzados antijihad.

You cannot write without looking behind you; like Lot's wife. And in doing so you turn yourself and them into blocks of salt.

Being conformist and respectful as I was of the grown-up world and its prevailing values, and having no brothers or sisters or friends to counterbalance the personality cult that surrounded me, I had no alternative but to concur, humbly but thoroughly, with the grown-ups' opinion of me.