

“Get up you lazy bastard. The Governor wants a word with you,” said a guard.
He opened his eyes and smiled. There was another guard standing near the cell door in
anticipation of any trouble. The prisoner smiled at him, too.
Now what can the Governor want from me? He wondered. His dishevelled form seemed
incapable of coherent thought. “It’s nice of him to remember me,” he said aloud, trying to
concentrate.
“Surprising he’s got any time for a worthless shit like you,” said the first guard.
“I once used to be a very important person,” the prisoner said feebly.”
― The Arbitrator
― The Arbitrator

“I wept when the muse Ulla bent over me. Blinded by tears I could not prevent her from kissing me, I could not prevent the Muse from giving me that terrible kiss. All of you who have ever been kissed by the Muse will surely understand that Oskar, once branded by that kiss, was condemned to take back the drum he had rejected years before, the drum he had buried in the sand of Sapse Cemetery.”
― The Tin Drum
― The Tin Drum

“Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself. A man who lies to himself is often the first to take offense. It sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn't it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked on a word and made a mountain out of a pea--he knows all of that, and still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of real hostility.”
― The Brothers Karamazov
― The Brothers Karamazov

“We may not have sewage, drinking water, and Olympic gold medals, but we do have democracy.”
― The White Tiger
― The White Tiger
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