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Death in Venice Quotes Showing 1-30 of 65

“Nothing is stranger or more ticklish than a relationship between people who know each other only by sight, who meet and observe each other daily - no hourly - and are nevertheless compelled to keep up the pose of an indifferent stranger, neither greeting nor addressing each other, whether out of etiquette or their own whim.”
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“The observations and encounters of a solitary, taciturn man are vaguer and at the same times more intense than those of a sociable man; his thoughts are deeper, odder and never without a touch of sadness. Images and perceptions that could be dismissed with a glance, a laugh, an exchange of opinions, occupy him unduly, become more intense in the silence, become significant, become an experience, an adventure, an emotion. Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden.”
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“A lonely, quiet person has observations and experiences that are at once both more indistinct and more penetrating than those of one more gregarious; his thoughts are weightier, stranger, and never without a tinge of sadness. . . . Loneliness fosters that which is original, daringly and bewilderingly beautiful, poetic. But loneliness also fosters that which is perverse, incongruous, absurd, forbidden.”
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“Solitude produces originality, bold & astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportionate, the absurd, and the forbidden.”
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“(..) nearly all the great things that exist owe their existence to a defiant despite: it is despite grief and anguish, despite poverty, loneliness, bodily weakness, vice and passion and a thousand inhibitions, that they have come into being at all.”
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“It is as well that the world knows only a fine piece of work and not also its origins, the conditions under which it came into being; for knowledge of the sources of an artist's inspiration would often confuse readers and shock them, and the excellence of the writing would be of no avail.”
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“The observations and encounters of a man of solitude and few words are at once more nebulous and more intense than those of a gregarious man, his thoughts more ponderable, more bizarre and never without a hint of sadness. Images and perceptions that might easily be dismissed with a glance, a laugh, an exchange of opinions occupy him unduly; they are heightened in the silence, gain in significance, turn into experience, adventure, emotion. Solitude begets originality, bold and disconcerting beauty, poetry. But solitude can also beget perversity, disparity, the absurd and the forbidden.”
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“The observations and encounters of a devotee of solitude and silence are at once less distinct and more penetrating than those of the sociable man; his thoughts are weightier, stranger, and never without a tinge of sadness. Images and perceptions which might otherwise be easily dispelled by a glance, a laugh, an exchange of comments, concern him unduly, they sink into mute depths, take on significance, become experiences, adventures, emotions.”
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“Because man loves and honors man as long as he is not able to judge him, and desire is a product of lacking knowledge.”
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“His yearning for new and faraway places, his desire for freedom, relief and oblivion was as he admitted to himself, an urge to flee-an urge to get away from his work, from the everyday site of a cold, rigid, and passionate servitude.”
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“..which seemed to hover in a limbo between creation and decay..”
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“For an important intellectual product to be immediately weighty, a deep relationship or concordance has to exist between the life of its creator and the general lives of the people. These people are generally unaware why exactly they praise a certain work of art. Far from being truly knowledgeable, they perceive it to have a hundred different benefits to justify their adulation; but the real underlying reason for their behavior cannot be measured, is sympathy.”
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“Because passion, like crime, does not like everyday order and well-being and every slight undoing of the bourgeois system, every confusion and infestation of the world is welcome to it, because it can unconditionally expect to find its advantage in it.”
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“This yearning for new and distant scenes, this craving for freedom, release, forgetfulness -- they were he admitted to himself, an impulse towards flight, flight from the spot which was the daily theatre of a rigid, cold, and passionate service.”
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“It is probably better that the world knows only the result, not the conditions under which it was achieved; because knowledge of the artist’s sources of inspiration might bewilder them, drive them away and in that way nullify the effect of the excellent work.”
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“His love of the sea had profound roots: the hardworking artist's desire to rest, his longing to get away from the demanding diversity of phenomena and take shelter in the bosom of simplicity and immensity; a forbidden penchant that was entirely antithetical to his mission and, for that very reason, seductive-a proclivity for the unorganized, the immeasurable, the eternal: for nothingness.”
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“To find peace in the presence of the faultless is the desire of the one who seeks excellence; and is not nothingness a form of perfection?”
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“Like any lover, he desired to please; suffered agonies at the thought of failure.”
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“Denn der Mensch liebt und ehrt den Menschen , solange er ihn nicht zu beurteilen vermag, und die Sehnsucht ist ein Erzeunis mangelhafter Erkenntnis.”
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“Nothing is more curious and awkward than the relationship of two people who only know each other with their eyes who meet and observe each other daily, even hourly and who keep up the impression of disinterest either because of morals or because of a mental abnormality. Between them there is listlessness and pent-up curiosity, the hysteria of an unsatisfied, unnaturally suppressed need for communion and also a kind of tense respect. Because man loves and honors man as long as he is not able to judge him, and desire is a product of lacking knowledge.”
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“Pues el hombre ama y respeta al hombre mientras no se halla en condiciones de juzgarlo, y el deseo vehemente es el resultado de un conocimiento imperfecto”
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“..nearly everything great owes its existence to “despites”: despite misery and affliction, poverty, desolation, physical debility, vice, passion, and a thousand other obstacles.”
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“I ako je lično shvatimo, umetnost je povišen život. Ona usrećuje dublje, ona troši brže. U lice svoga sluge ona reže tragove umišljenih i duhovnih doživljaja, i vremenom, čak i kada mu je spoljni život manastirski miran, stvara kod njega toliku razneženost, prefinjenost, zamor i radoznalost živaca da bi to jedva mogao stvoriti život pun razuzdanih strasti uživanja.”
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“Only incorrigible bohemians find it boring or laughable when a man of talent outgrows the libertine chrysalis stage and begins to perceive and express the dignity of the intellect, adopting the courtly ways of a solitude replete with bitter suffering and inner battles though eventually gaining a position of power and honor among men.”
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“The fruit of solitude is originality, something daringly and disconcertingly beautiful, the poetic creation. But the fruit of solitude can also be the perverse, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden.”
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“He loved the sea for deep-seated reasons: the hardworking artist's need for repose, the desire to take shelter from the demanding diversity of phenomena in the bosom of boundless simplicity, a propensity—proscribed and diametrically opposed to his mission in life and for that very reason seductive—a propensity for the unarticulated, the immoderate, the eternal, for nothingness. To repose in perfection is the desire of all those who strive for excellence, and is not nothingness a form of perfection?”
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tags: art, bosom, death, eternal, excellence, existential, mission, nothingness, oceanic, perfection, propensity, proscribed, repose, sea, shelter, simplicity, thanatos, work

“Δεν ήταν γραμμένο κάπου πως ο ήλιος στρέφει την προσοχή μας από το πνεύμα στην αίσθηση; Ναρκώνει και μαγεύει, έγραφε, τη λογική και τη μνήμη τόσο, που η ψυχή ξεχνά από ευχαρίστηση την πραγματική της κατάσταση, και γεμάτη κατάπληξη και θαυμασμό προσηλώνεται στα πιο όμορφα απ’ τα αντικείμενα που φωτίζει ο ήλιος: ναι, και μόνο με τη βοήθεια ενός σώματος μπορεί κατόπιν να υψωθεί στη θεώρηση ανώτερων πραγμάτων. Ο έρωτας, πράγματι, συναγωνίστηκε τους μαθηματικούς που δείχνουν στα λιγότερο ικανά παιδιά απτές εικόνες των αφηρημένων μορφών. Το ίδιο και ο Θεός, για να μας κάνει ορατό το πνεύμα, χρησιμοποίησε τη μορφή και το χρώμα της ανθρώπινης νιότης σαν όργανο της μνήμης, στολίζοντάς τη με όλη τη λάμψη της ομορφιάς, κι εμείς φλεγόμαστε από πόνο κι ελπίδα στη θέα της.
[…] Και με φιλοφροσύνες, πνευματώδεις και υπαινικτικούς αστεϊσμούς μιλούσε ο Σωκράτης στο Φαίδρο για τον πόθο και την αρετή. Του μιλούσε για τον πύρινο τρόμο που κυριεύει τον αισθανόμενο άνθρωπο όταν τα μάτια του αντικρίζουν το σύμβολο του αιώνιου κάλλους• του μιλούσε για τους πόθους του αμύητου και φαύλου, που είναι ανίκανος να συλλάβει την ομορφιά και να νιώσει σεβασμό απέναντί της αν και βλέπει μπροστά του το είδωλό της• μιλούσε για τον ιερό φόβο που κυριεύει την ευγενική ψυχή όταν μια θεϊκή μορφή, ένα τέλειο κορμί παρουσιάζεται μπροστά της, πόσο συγκλονίζεται κι αναστατώνεται και δεν τολμά καν να το κοιτάξει και λατρεύει αυτόν που έχει την ομορφιά, κι αν δεν φοβόταν πως θα φανεί τρελός στους άλλους, θα ‘φτανε να του προσφέρει ακόμη και θυσίες σαν σ’ έναν ανδριάντα. Γιατί μόνο η ομορφιά, Φαίδρε μου, αξίζει ν’ αγαπηθεί και είναι συνάμα ορατή: είναι, πρόσεξέ το αυτό! η μοναδική πλευρά του πνεύματος που εμείς μπορούμε να δούμε και ν’ αντέξουμε με τις αισθήσεις. Τι θα γινόμασταν αν το θεϊκό εμφανιζόταν μπροστά μας αλλιώτικα, αν ο λόγος, η αρετή και η αλήθεια μας μιλούσαν μεσ’ απ’ τις αισθήσεις; Δε θα μας αφάνιζε, δε θα μας έκαιγε η αγάπη, όπως έκαψε κάποτε τη Σεμέλη ο Δίας; Η ομορφιά λοιπόν είναι ο δρόμος που οδηγεί απ’ το συναίσθημα στο πνεύμα –είναι ο τρόπος, ένα μέσο μονάχα, μικρέ μου Φαίδρε… Κι ύστερα είπε ότι αυτός που αγαπάει είναι πιο θεϊκός από κείνον που αγαπιέται, γιατί μέσα του υπάρχει ο Θεός, που δεν υπάρχει στον άλλον- αυτή την πιο τρυφερή και σκωπτική σκέψη ίσως που έχει ποτέ σκεφτεί ο νους του ανθρώπου, απ’ όπου πηγάζει όλη η πανουργία και η πιο κρυφή ηδονή της επιθυμίας.”
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