Quotes

A collection of quotes that I have stolen from books, songs, movies,…. These have been my WhatsApp “About”s over the years and I thought it might be a good idea to have a compilation. Reverse chronological order, most recent first.

1. It was an appalling thought, to be so well-integrated into the machinery of society and history as to be able to move in only one plane, and along one line.
   — Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut)

2. I han es Zündhölzli azündt, und das het e Flamme gäh, und I ha für d’Zigarette, welle Füür vom Hölzli näh, aber ds Hölzli isch dervo — gspickt und uf e Teppich cho — Gottseidank dass i’s vom Teppich wider furt ha gno.
   [I lit a match and it gave out fire, and I wanted to take fire for the cigarette from the match, but the match dropped and fell onto the carpet, thank God that I took it instantly from it.]
   — I han es Zündhölzli azündt (Mani Matter)

3. Vieni, da me c’è tanto sole; ma ho tanto freddo al cuore; se tu non sei con me.
   [Come, where I am there’s so much sun; but my heart is so cold; if you are not with me.]
   — Luglio (Riccardo del Turco)

4. Nightingales softly singing, To a guitar is gently playing, Moon and stars brightly shining.
   — Bengawan Solo (Rebecca Pan)

5. They probably ended their days nibbling acorns somewhere. But that, after all, was their fate.
   — Pinball, 1973 (Haruki Murakami)

6. Sotto i raggi del sole, Come è bello sognare, Questi giorni in riva al mar, Non potrò dimenticar.
   [Under the rays of the sun, How good it is to dream, These days by the sea, I will not be able to forget.]
   — Abbronzatissima (Edoardo Vianello, Carlo Rossi)

7. But what do I care for the laws of nature and arithmetic, when, for some reason, I dislike those laws and the fact that twice two makes four?
   — Notes from Underground (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

8. Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.
   — Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

9. It is an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.
   — Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

10. Là dove c’era l’erba ora c’è una città, E quella casa in mezzo al verde ormai, Dove sarà?
    [Where there was grass now there is a city, And that house in the middle of the green now, Where will it be?]
    — Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck (Miki Del Prete, Adriano Celentano, Luciano Beretta)

11. Se telefonando, Io potessi dirti addio, Ti chiamerei. Se io rivedendoti, Fossi certo che non soffri, Ti rivedrei.
    [If by calling, I could say goodbye, I would call you. If by seeing you again, I could be sure you were not in pain, I would see you again.]
    — Se Telefonando (Maurizio Costanzo, Ghigo De Chiara, Mina)

12. Write without the anguish of having the void open before his pen; read without the anguish of having his own act become concrete in some material object.
    — If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino)

13. Signore, stava sognando? Mi spiace, ma non saprà mai come andrà a finire.
    [Sir, were you dreaming? Sorry, but you will never know how it will end.]
    — La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)

14. I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do.
    — Sputnik Sweetheart (Haruki Murakami)

15. The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.
    — Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)

16. They are exquisite, the croque-monsieurs, a little big perhaps, made for the jaws of giants, but who cares? We eat them, we come back to them, we are delighted.
    — Croque Monsieur (Wikipedia)

17. Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder ‘why, why, why?’ Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.
    — Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)

18. Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.
    — Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)

19. I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud. I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
    — Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)

20. It is not that the meaning cannot be explained. But there are certain meanings that are lost forever the moment they are explained in words.
    — 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

21. Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.
    — Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)

22. Jamais on ne me dira, que la course aux étoiles, ça n’est pas pour moi.
    [No one will ever tell me that the race for the stars is not for me.]
    — Le Festin (Michael Giacchino, Camille Dalmais)

23. “How is it possible to hate so deeply for deeds not yet done?” vs. “How can old wounds heal while maggots linger so richly?”
    — The Buried Giant (Kazuo Ishiguro)

24. Indeed—why should I not admit it?—in that moment, my heart was breaking.
    — The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

25. But what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened had such and such a moment turned out differently?
    — The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

26. Nel cor più non mi sento brillar la gioventù.
    [In my heart I no longer feel the shine of youth.]
    — La molinara (Giovanni Paisiello)