Quotes from Witold Gombrowicz

I even stopped walking to give some thought to the fact that everyone, after all, wants to be himself, so I too want to be myself, for example who would love syphilis, of course no one loves syphilis, but after all, a syphilitic man also wants to be himself, namely a syphilitic, it is easy to say "I want to be well again," and yet it sounds strange, as if to say "I don't want to be who I am.

W polowie drogi mojego zywota posrod ciemnego znalazlem sie lasu. Las ten co gorsza byl zielony.

A universal style is one that knows how to embrace lovingly those not quite developed.

Don't change the beggar into a conqueror, because it was the beggar who led you to conquest.

If you were to stare at this box of matches, you could extract entire worlds out of it. If you search for tastes in a book, you will certainly find them because it was said: seek and ye shall find. But a critic should not rifle, search. Let him sit back with folded arms, waiting for the book to find him. Talents should not be sought with a microscope, a talent should let people know about itself by striking at all the bells.

Many a beauty in her own room behaves repulsively till one splits one's sides.

You are ugly when you love her, you are beautiful and fresh, vital and free, modern and poetic when you don't... you are more beautiful as an orphan than as your mother's son.

I didn't go to the lectures. My valet, who was more distinguished than I, went instead.

Listen, nitwit, what good will it do you to know whether I am sincere or insincere? What does this have to do with whether or not my thoughts are right? I can utter a soaring truth insincerely and say the stupidest thing sincerely. Learn to judge the thought independently of who says it or how.

It was too late to retreat - the world exists only because it is always too late to retreat.

Homeland is not a blot on a map but the living essence of man

There is nothing that the mature hate more, there is nothing that disgusts them more, than immaturity

The world was indeed a kind of screen and did not manifest itself other than by passing me on and on—I was just the bouncing ball that objects played with!

Vadinas, varomoji j?ga yra ne individo s?žin?, o santykis, atsirad?s tarp jo ir kit? žmoni?. Ne tod?l blogai elgiam?s, kad sunaikinome savyje Diev?, o tod?l, kad Dievas ir net Šetonas tampa nesvarb?s, nes sankcij? veiksmui suteikia kitas žmogus.

Lata rozpadajÄ… siÄ™ na miesiÄ…ce, miesiÄ…ce na dni, dni na godziny, minuty na sekundy, a sekundy przeciekajÄ…. Czym jestem? Jestem pewna iloÅ›ciÄ… sekund - które przeciekÅ'y. Rezultat: nic. Nic.

On siedzia? z sensem (bo czyta?), a ja bez sensu siedzia?em.

Nie ufa?em wiarom, doktrynom, ideologiom, instytucjom. Mog?em wi?c oprze? si? tylko na sobie. Ale przecie? by?em Polakiem, urobionym przez polsko??, ?yj?cym w Polsce. No wi?c trzeba mi by?o poszuka? mojego ja g??biej, tam gdzie ono ju? nie by?o polskie, a po prostu cz?owiecze.

If he [the Artist] were to take up the pen it would be...to better express his individuality and explain it to others; or else to put his internal affairs in order...to deepen and sharpen his relationship with his fellow men because other souls exert an immense and creative influence on our soul; or to try to fight for a world as he would like it to be, for a world that is indispensable to his life.

A hanged sparrow! Who would ever think of hanging a sparrow? It's like flavoring borscht with two mushrooms instead of just one—it's too much!

Istnieje gatunek zjawisk, których d?entelmen nie mo?e zna? z tej przyczyny, ?e gdyby je poznaÅ', przestaÅ'by by? d?entelmenem.

Mnie Bóg, w ?yciu moim, nigdy nie byÅ' potrzebny - od najwczeÅ›niejszego dzieciÅ"stwa, ani przez pi?? minut - byÅ'em zawsze samowystarczalny. / I have never in my life needed God - from the infancy, since I was 5, I was self-sufficient. (Dziennik 1956, XVIII Niedziela)

Literatura powa?na nie jest po to, ?eby u?atwia? ?ycie, tylko ?eby je utrudnia?.

Ile? zdaÅ" mo?na utworzy? z dwudziestu czterech liter alfabetu? Ile? znaczeÅ" mo?na wyprowadzi? z setek chwastów, grudek i innych drobiazgów?

fulfillment is always murky, insufficiently clear, devoid of the greatness and purity of the undertaking.