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Nação Crioula

Book by José Eduardo Agualusa · 17 quotes · Love, Nostalgia, Letters

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Nação Crioula Quotes

“It is December in Paris. It was already December when I set out from Luanda, leaving the radiance of your gaze behind me. And it will be December yet, even after the month is over, and then will come only more December and winter, and December again and always the same, until l come back to the Sunny Season, and the land which is lit everywhere, always, by your gaze.”

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“Fradique looked intensely at me. 'You are the proof that God exists,' he said, 'and that he is quite mad'. He leaned towards me and kissed me, and I kissed him. Later we went back to looking at the maps, and played a game of chess. I asked him what he had meant when he spoke about God's madness. Fradique laughed. 'Only a thoroughly insane God could conceive of an angel, and then place her in Hell.”

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“When you asked me, breathless, breathing the same air I was breathing, 'And what now?' I didn't know what to to say. Three months later and I still don't know the answer. I've been a nomad my whole life. I've crossed half the world, from Chicago to Palestine, Iceland to the Sahara, and I've never known what name to give this anxious wandering. Now I know that I was looking for you. I know now that you are my destiny, my country, my church. I know that it became December when I left Luanda, and that ever since then Winter has been prowling like a ravenous wolf all around me.”

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“One day', he said, 'the King of the Butterflies sent an emissary to discover the nature of fire. Some time later the emissary returned, saying that he had discovered fire, that he had found it a volatile, enraged substance, and that he had been too afraid to get any closer. So a second emissary set off, who soon returned exhausted, half mad, his wings singed, but the King was still not satisfied and sent his own son off, telling him not to return until he had discovered what fire really is. The son set off, but never returned. The King was satisfied — his son had discovered the true nature of fire.”

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“Um homem faz um filho e o que lhe acontece? Depressa este lhe dá dois netos, e aqueles quatro bisnetos, e assim por diante, originando um ruidosos caudal de gente que irá com o seu nome e o seu sangue atravessar a eternidade, Fazer um filhoé gerar um universo. Hão-de vir os anjos, mas também os demónios; há-de vir o amor, mas igualmente o ódio; e juntamente com o sublime virá o abominável. A mim, não me agrada o papel de Deus, parece-me (parecia-me) um filho um acto arrogante e temerário.”

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“estou na vida como numa varanda. Vejo na rua as pessoas passarem com as suas tragédias íntimas. Vejo-as nascer e morrer. Nestas terras ácidas a natureza conspira contra nós. Um homem morre, desaparece, e logo a sua obra inteira se corrói e se corrompe e se desfaz. Os palácio de hoje amanhã serão ruínas. Uma panela de sopa, deixada ao ar, fermenta numa única noite. Os fungos crescem nos armários como plantas malignas e se os deixarmos ocupam inteiramente os quartos e as casas. A própria memória rapidamente se dissolve.”

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“In this night-struck city I am guided and comforted by the memory of your light. I see you, I see you constantly, just as I first saw you, so beautiful as you spun in the rounds of the rebita, or in serious contemplation in Muxima, alone in the chapel, while outside the still river under the wide sun, the solemn landscape, the flawless sky, seemed in silence to be meditating with you. Then I see you crossing the Veados Beach at a gallop. I watch you laughing in the distance and your laugh is carried over to me in the breeze, salty and fresh, humid and strong, and again I feel —as I felt then— a living presence, the presence of Life.”

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“In this night-struck city I am guided and comforted by the memory of your light. I see you, I see you constantly, just as I first saw you, so beautiful as you spun in the rounds of the rebita, or in serious contemplation in Muxima, alone in the chapel, while outside the still river under the wide sun, the solemn landscape, the flawless sky, seemed in silence to be meditating with you. Then I see you crossing the Veados Beach at a gallop. I watch you laughing in the distance and your laugh is carried over to me in the breeze, salty and fresh, humid and strong, and again I feel —as I fel then— a living presence, the presence of Life.”

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