Because it’s not true that suffering purifies people; that we become better, wiser, more understanding in the process. We become cold and indifferent. When, for the first time in our lives, we properly understand our...

…a törvény könyörtelen következetességében néha enyhének és erőtlennek látszott az idő önkényével szemben.

It is not true that fate slips silently into our lives. It steps in through the door that we have opened, and we invite it to enter. No one is strong enough or cunning enough...

A szerkezet, az igazságosztás szerkezete, ez a bonyolult, nagy gépezet, bizonyosan tökéletlen volt, gyakran csikorgott, minden zugában rozsdás volt és poros: de jobbat nem tudott senki, tökéletesebbet nem talált még fel ember, nélkülözni nem lehetett,...

Kevesen tudták, hogy ez a …nagyvilágiasan megközelíthetetlen modorú embert belülről, évtizede roncs már, …: csupa kétely és seb, emberfeletti erővel leledzett kétségbeesés.

Then I understood that a survivor has no right to bring a complaint. Whoever survives has won his case, he has no right and no cause to bring charges; he has emerged the stronger, the...

Sin is not just what the catechism says it is. Sin is not simply that which we commit. Sin is also what we desire but are too weak to do.

Whether life finds us guilty or not guilty, we ourselves know we are not innocent.

And yet, sometimes facts are no more than pitiful consequences, because guilt does not reside in our acts but in the intentions that give rise to our act. Everything turns on our intentions.

Poverty and sickness have this miraculous power of completely changing one’s priorities; one’s sentimental and psychological values go out the window.

Uno siempre responde con su vida entera a las preguntas mas importantes. No importa lo que diga, no importa con que palabras y con que argumentos trate de defenderse. Al final, al final de todo,...

She said she never wanted to have secrets from me nor from herself, which is why she wanted to write down everything that otherwise would be hard to talk about. As I said, later I...

No, the secret is that there’s no reward and we have to endure our characters and our natures as best we can, because no amount of experience or insight is going to rectify our deficiencies,...

Entro Kriztina y aquel salon oscuro se inundo de luz. No solamente irradiaba juventud, no. Irradiaba pasion y orgullo, la conciencia soberana de unos sentimientos incondicionales. No he conocido a ninguna otra persona que fuera...

Friendship is no ideal state of mind; it is a law, and a strict one, on which the entire legal systems of great cultures were built. It reaches beyond personal desires and self-regard in men’s...

Que significa ‘amar’? Durante anios he pensado que significa conocer a la otra persona…, conocerla perfectamente, con todos sus secretos; conocer cada rincon de su cuerpo, cada reflejo; conocer a fondo su alma, cada una...

Lo que juramos ya no existe -dice el invitado muy serio, levantando su copa- Todos han muerto, todos han partido, todos han traicionado lo que juramos. Hubo un mundo por el cual valio la pena...

You only benefit from books if you can give something back to them. What I mean is, if you approach them in the spirit of a duel, so you can both wound and be wounded,...

… no tuvieron que hacer ningún `pacto de amistad´, como suelen los muchachos de su edad, cuando organizan solemnes ritos ridículos, llenos de pasión exagerada, al aparecer la primera pasión en ellos- de una forma...

«Improvvisamente ho capito che non c’è nessuna persona giusta. Non esiste né in terra né in cielo né da nessun’altra parte, puoi starne certa. Esistono soltanto le persone, e in ognuna c’è un pizzico di...

Não basta amar alguém. É preciso amar com coragem. É peciso amar de tal modo que nenhum ladrão, ou má intenção, ou lei, lei divina ou deste mundo, possa seja o que for contra esse...

You would like to read, but somehow the rain gets into the book, too; not literally, and yet it really does, the letters are meaningless, and all you hear is the rain.

A lei do mundo dita que se deve terminar o que alguma vez se começou. Não é grande motivo de alegria. Nada chega a tempo, nunca a vida te deu nada, quando precisavas. Sofremos longamente...

Evidently one endures anything, provided one has a goal.

…mindegyre inkább „apa” volt, megfellebbezhetetlen, pontos, kérdező és válaszoló, de kissé úgy, ahogy az orvos, vagy …igen, ahogy a bíró kérdez.