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Blindness

Book by José Saramago · 36 quotes · Blindness, Ensaio Sobre A Cegueira, José Saramago

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Blindness Quotes

“Proclamava-se ali o fim do mundo, a salvação penitencial, a visão do sétimo dia, o advento do anjo, a colisão cósmica, a extinção do sol, o espírito da tribo, a seiva da mandrágora, o unguento do tigre, a virtude do signo, a disciplina do vento, o perfume da lua, a reivindicação da treva, o poder do esconjuro, a marca do calcanhar, a crucificação da rosa, a pureza da linfa, o sangue do gato preto, a dormência da sombra, a revolta das marés, a lógica da antropofagia, a castração sem dor, a tatuagem divina, a cegueira voluntária, o pensamento convexo, o côncavo, o plano, o vertical, o inclinado, o concentrado, o disperso, o fugido, a ablação das cordas vocais, a morte da palavra.”

Madness
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“if, before every action, we were to begin by weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probable, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt. The good and the evil resulting from our words and deeds go on apportioning themselves, one assumes in a reasonably uniform and balanced way, throughout all the days to follow, including those endless days, when we shall not be here to find out, to congratulate ourselves or ask for pardon, indeed there are those who claim that this is the much-talked-of immortality, Possibly,”

True
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“Somewhat less appropriate was the blast that came from the loudspeaker, recently it had spoken on certain days, on others not at all, but always at the same time, as had been promised, clearly there was a timer in the transmitter which at the precise moment started up the recorded tape, the reason why it should have broken down from time to time we are never likely to know, these are matters for the outside world, it is in any case serious enough, insofar as it muddled up the calendar, the so-called counting of the days, which some blind men, natural obsessives, or lovers of order, which is a moderate form of obsession, had tried scrupulously to follow by making little knots in a piece of string...”

Obsession
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“C’est ma faute, pleurait-elle, et c’était la vérité, impossible de le nier, mais il était vrai aussi, si cela pouvait lui servir de consolation, que si avant chaque acte nous nous mettions à y réfléchir sérieusement, à en prévoir toutes les conséquences, d’abord les conséquences immédiates, puis les conséquences probables, puis les conséquences éventuelles, puis les conséquences imaginables, nous n’arriverions jamais à bouger de l’endroit où la première pensée nous aurait cloués sur place.”

Life LessonsChoices
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“Não me acreditarás se eu te disser o que tenho diante de mim, todas as imagens da igreja estão com os olhos vendados (...) Imagino esse homem a entrar aqui vindo do mundo dos cegos, aonde depois teria de regressar para cegar também, imagino as portas fechadas, a igreja deserta, o silêncio, imagino as estátuas, as pinturas, vejo-o ir de uma para outra, a subir aos altares e a atar os panos, com dois nós, para que não deslacem e caiam, a as sentar duas mãos de tinta nas pinturas para tornar mais espessa a noite branca em que entraram, esse padre deve ter sido o maior sacrílego de todos os tempos e de todas as religiões, o mais justo, o mais radicalmente humano, o que veio aqui para declarar finalmente que Deus não merece ver.”

Religion
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“Das moralische Gewissen, das von so vielen ungerührt verletzt und von ebenso vielen verschmäht wird, gibt es und hat es immer gegeben, es ist keine Erfindung der Philosophen aus grauer Vorzeit des Quartärs, als die Seele noch kaum mehr war als eine verschwommene Idee. Im Laufe der Zeit, des Zusammenelebens und der genetischen Veränderungen haben wir das Gewissen schließlich in die Farbe des Blutes und das Salz der Tränen getan, und als sei das noch nicht genug, haben wir aus den Augen eine Art nach innen gerichteter Spiegel gemacht, mit dem Ergbenis, dass sie häufig genau das direkt durchblicken lassen, was wir mit Worten hatten verbergen wollen.”

AugenStadt Der BlindenMoralisches Gewissen
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“Es war meine Schuld, sagte sie weinend, und das stimmte zweifellos, es stimmte jedoch auch, falls ihr dies ein Trost ist, dass wir uns schon beim ersten Gedanken kaum vom Fleck rühren würden, könnten wir immer alle Folgen unseres Handelns vorraussehen, würden wir ernsthaft darüber nachdenken, zunächst über die unmittelbaren Folgen, dann die möglichen, die wahrscheinlichen, die vorstellbaren. Gute und schlechte Ergebnisse unserer Worte und Werke verteilen sich, vermutlich auf eine recht gleichförmige, ausgeglichene Weise, über alle Tage der Zukunft, eingeschlossen auch jene endlosen, an denen wir schon nicht mehr hier sein werden, um dies zu überprüfen, uns zu beglückwünschen oder zu entschuldigen, übrigens gibt es sogar Menschen, die sagen, eben das sei die Unsterblichkeit, von der soviel geredet wird.”

VerantwortungDie Stadt Der BlindenPersönliche Verantwortung
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“Confidential matters are not dealt with over the telephone, you'd better come here in person. I cannot leave the house, Do you mean you're ill, Yes, I'm ill, the blind man said after a pause. In that case you ought to call a doctor, a real doctor, quipped the functionary, and, delighted with his own wit, he rang off. The man's insolence was like a slap in the face. Only after some minutes had passed, had he regained enough composure to tell his wife how rudely he had been treated. Then, as if he had discovered something that he should have known a long time ago, he murmured sadly, This is the stuff we're made of, half indifference and half malice.”

IndifferenceBureaucracyBlindnessMalice
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