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"You are, at once, both the quiet and the confusion of my heart."

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:20:57 -0500

“You are, at once, both the quiet and the confusion of my heart.”

- Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice, 20 December 1912

"Mientras no lo tomen en serio, el que dice la verdad puede vivir un tiempo en una..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:26:49 -0500

“

Mientras no lo tomen en serio, el que dice la verdad puede vivir un tiempo en una democracia.

Después, la cicuta.

As long as they do not take him seriously, the man who speaks the truth can live for a while in a democracy.

Then, the hemlock.

”

- Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 401

Compare, Escolios a un Texto Implícito II, p. 115: “Cicuta (s.f.) = Bebida que en el banquete democrático se reserva al reaccionario.” / “Hemlock (n.) = drink which at a democratic banquet is reserved for the reactionary”.

"I live here much in my own manner, that is, alone, for I could not bear the company of my best..."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:25:00 -0500

“I live here much in my own manner, that is, alone, for I could not bear the company of my best friend, above a month; there is such a sameness in mankind upon the whole, and they grow so much more disgusting every day, that, were it not for a portion of Ambition, and a conviction that in times like the present we ought to perform our respective duties, I should live here all my life, in unvaried Solitude.”

- George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, in a letter to his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, 14 December 1808.

"Sometimes I miss you the way someone drowning remembers the air."

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:43:36 -0500

“Sometimes I miss you
the way someone drowning
remembers the air.”

- Tim Seibles (via faulknerandfieldnotes)

"Bedenklich.—Einen Glauben annehmen, blos weil er Sitte ist,—das heisst doch: unredlich sein, feige..."

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 23:28:00 -0500

“

Bedenklich.—Einen Glauben annehmen, blos weil er Sitte ist,—das heisst doch: unredlich sein, feige sein, faul sein!— Und so wären Unredlichkeit, Feigheit und Faulheit die Voraussetzungen der Sittlichkeit?

Doubtful.—To accept a faith just because it is customary, means to be dishonest, to be cowardly, to be lazy. And do dishonesty, cowardice, and laziness then appear as the presupposition of morality?

”

- Nietzsche, Morgenröthe, buch 2, 101 (Dawn, 1881; Kaufmann translation)

" Every day my heart cries out; Every night it turns to stone. The story of my love is written in..."

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:27:00 -0500

“

Every day my heart cries out;
Every night it turns to stone.

The story of my love
is written in blood all over my face.
I ask my Love to read it;
She asks me to ignore it.

”

- Rumi, from Star’s In the Arms of the Beloved

" O Love, I searched both worlds, but never found joy without you. I have seen many wonders, but..."

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:29:00 -0500

“

O Love,
I searched both worlds,
but never found joy without you.
I have seen many wonders,
but never one like you.

I pressed my soul’s ear
to countless doors,
but never heard words as sweet as yours.

O Saaqi, sweet sight of my eyes,
I’ve never seen one like you
in all of Persia or Arabia.
Pour the wine that takes me beyond myself,
for this petty existence
brings nothing but fatigue.

[…]

Rest now, my soul,
leave behind your religion
and your empty show of faith.

Remember when you had no religion?
Remember when all you had was Him?

”

- Rumi, translated by Jonathan Star in Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved

"I cried out, just to hear the scream which is answered by nothing, and from which nothing takes the..."

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:54:30 -0500

“I cried out, just to hear the scream which is answered by nothing, and from which nothing takes the strength of the scream, which therefore rises up, without any counterpoise, and cannot cease even when it grows silent.”

- Franz Kafka, Unhappiness (via kafkaesque-world)

Petition to get CNN to apologize for sympathizing with rapists

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:45:56 -0500

Petition to get CNN to apologize for sympathizing with rapists

"My body is heavy as lead when I throw it into bed. I pass immediately into the lowest depth of..."

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:33:13 -0500

“My body is heavy as lead when I throw it into bed. I pass immediately into the lowest depth of dream. This body, which has become a sarcophagus with stone handles, lies perfectly motionless; the dreamer rises out of it, like a vapor, to circumnavigate the world. The dreamer seeks vainly to find a form and shape that will fit his ethereal essence. Like a celestial tailor, he tries on one body after another, but they are all misfits. Finally he is obliged to return to his own body, to reassume the leaden mould, to become a prisoner of the flesh, to carry on in torpor, pain and ennui.”

- Henry Miller, The Rosy Crucifixion, vol. I, Sexus, bk. 1, cap. 1 (1949)

" Melancolia m-a prins pe stradă Sunt ameţit. Oh, primăvara, iar a venit… Palid, şi..."

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:34:00 -0600

“

Melancolia m-a prins pe stradă
Sunt ameţit.
Oh, primăvara, iar a venit…
Palid, şi mut…
Mii de femei au trecut;
Melancolia m-a prins pe stradă.

E o vibrare de violete:
Trece şi Ea;
Aş vrea,
Dar nu pot s-o salut;
Oh, şi cum a trecut,
Într-o vibrare de violete.

Nimicnicia m-a prins pe stradă;
Am adormit.
Oh, primăvara, iar a venit
Pal, şi uitat…
Vals funebru, depărtat.
Melancolia mă ţine-n stradă…

Melancholy’s caught me on the street,
distressed.
Spring has come again,
pale and silent….
Thousands of women have passed by;
melancholy’s caught me on the street.

A vibration of violets,
she passes by;
I wish to,
but cannot, greet her—
and now she’s passed
into a vibration of violets.

Emptiness has caught me on the street,
dazed.
Spring has come again,
pale and forlorn….
Like a funeral song in the distance,
emptiness holds me on the street…

”

- George Bacovia, Scântei galbene, “Nervi De Primăvară” (1926; Yellow Sparks, “Spring Anxiety”).

"An intellectual? Yes. And never deny it. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:29:55 -0600

“An intellectual? Yes. And never deny it. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. “Can they be brought together?” This is a practical question. We must get down to it. “I despise intelligence” really means: “I cannot bear my doubts.”

- Albert Camus (via nirvikalpa)

"We must wait and seize the images that arise in us, naked, natural, excessive, and follow these..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:52:55 -0600

“We must wait and seize the images that arise in us, naked, natural, excessive, and follow these images to the very end”

- Antonin Artaud (via rawforms)

Photo

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:10:15 -0600

"Iubito, şi iar am venit… Dar astăzi, de-abia mă mai port― Deschide clavirul şi cântă-mi Un..."

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:43:20 -0600

“

Iubito, şi iar am venit…
Dar astăzi, de-abia mă mai port―
Deschide clavirul şi cântă-mi
Un cântec de mort.
Şi dacă-am să cad pe covoare
În tristul, tăcutul salon,―
Tu cântă-nainte, iubito,
Încet, monoton.

Love, I’ve come again…
but today, I cannot bear myself—
open the piano and play for me
a song for one dead.
And if I should fall to the floor
in the sad, silent room,
continue playing the same, love,
slowly, unchangingly.

”

- George Bacovia, Plumb, “Trudit” (1916; Lead, “Worn down”)

"Alas.” said the mouse, “the world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that..."

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:22:04 -0600

““Alas.” said the mouse, “the world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.” “You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up.”

- Franz Kafka, A Little Fable (via stuff—n—things)

"in hac solitudine careo omnium colloquio, […]. nihil est mihi amicius solitudine. in ea mihi..."

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:42:00 -0600

“

in hac solitudine careo omnium colloquio, […]. nihil est mihi amicius solitudine. in ea mihi omnis sermo est cum litteris.

In this solitude, I am removed from all dialogue, […]. Nothing is dearer to me than solitude; in it, all my conversation is with literature.

”

- Cicero, Epistulæ ad Atticum, XII.XV, Scr. Asturæ vii Id. Mart. a. 709 (“Letters to Atticus”, 12.15, written in Asturia, March 9, 45 BCE.)

"Я пережил свои желанья, Я разлюбил свои мечты; Остались мне одни страданья, Плоды сердечно..."

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:43:00 -0600

“

Я пережил свои желанья,
Я разлюбил свои мечты;
Остались мне одни страданья,
Плоды сердечно пустоты.
Под бурями судьбы жестокой
Увял цветущий мой венец—
Живу печальный, одинокий,
И жду: придет ли мой конец?
Так, поздним хладом пораженный,
Как бури слышен зимний свист,
Один—на ветке обнаженной
Трепещет запоздалый лист!

I have outlasted all desire,
My dreams and I have grown apart;
My grief alone is left entire,
The gleanings of an empty heart.
The storms of ruthless dispensation
Have struck my flowery garland numb—
I live in lonely desolation
And wonder when my end will come.
Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted
By tardy winter’s whistling chill,
A single leaf which has outlasted
Its season will be trembling still.

”

- Alexander Pushkin, “Я пережил свои желанья” (1821); “I have outlasted all desire”, translated by Babette Deutsch.

"How do you get so empty? Who takes it out of you?"

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:49:25 -0600

“How do you get so empty? Who takes it out of you?”

- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

"My experience as a human being, not to mention my experience as a scholar, tells me that I cannot..."

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:53:18 -0600

“My experience as a human being, not to mention my experience as a scholar, tells me that I cannot ever possibly imagine thinking that I have enough information. At no time in my life have I ever had enough time to get all the information I need, and I am wearily used to making compromises in pursuit of adequacy. That quality has nothing to do with the abundance of what is out there, and has everything to do with intellectual character and discipline. What is perceived as infoglut is mainly infoguilt—a sense that I should be seeking more.”

- Prof. J.J. O’Donnell, Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace