Quotessence
Home / Books / Travels with Herodotus

Travels with Herodotus

Book by Ryszard Kapuściński · 9 quotes · People, World, Algeri

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleWorldAlgeriAliveAverageAverage PersonBornCarrieCompletenessConditionsConsumingCultureCuriousCustomsDealsDressesEffortErodotoFactsFeels

Travels with Herodotus Quotes

“There aren't many such enthusiasts born. The average person is not especially curious about the world. He is alive, and being somehow obliged to deal with this condition, feels the less effort it requires, the better. Whereas learning about the world is labor, and a great all-consuming one at that. Most people develop quite antithetical talents, in fact - to look without seeing, to listen without hearing, mainly to preserve onself within oneself.”

PeopleWorldFeelsLooksPersonsFactsBornDealsEffortAliveSeeingConditionsTalentLaborAverageOneselfHearingCuriousPreservesObligedConsumingAverage Person
Book:Travels with Herodotus
Create image

“Одно отличает людей такого рода: это ненасытные люди-губки, которые се легко впитывают и так же легко с этим расстаются. В них ничто надолго не задерживается, а поскольку природа не терпит пустоты, им постоянно нужно что-то новое, они постоянно должны что-то впитывать, добавлять, множить, увеличивать.”

PeopleHuman Nature
Book:Travels with Herodotus
Create image

“Such people, while useful, even agreeable, to others, are, if truth be told, frequently unhappy–lonely in fact. Yes, they seek out others, and it may even seem to them that in a certain country or city they have managed to find true kinship and fellowship, having come to know and learn about a people; but they wake up one day and suddenly feel that nothing actually binds them to these people, that they can leave here at once. They realize that another country, some other people, have now beguiled them, and that yesterday’s most riveting event now pales and loses all meaning and significance. For all intents and purposes, they do not grow attached to anything, do not put down deep roots. Their empathy is sincere, but superficial. If asked which of the countries they have visited they like best, they are embarrassed–they do not know how to answer. Which one? In a certain sense–all of them. There is something compelling about each. To which country would they like to return once more? Again, embarrassment–they had never asked themselves such a question. The one certainty is that they would like to be back on the road, going somewhere. To be on their way again–that is the dream.”

TravelLonely
Book:Travels with Herodotus
Create image

“Ad Algeri vedevo per la prima volta il Mediterraneo da vicino, potevo immergerci la mano, sentirne il contatto. Per trovarlo non occorreva informarsi: bastava continuare a seguire le via in discesa. Lo si intravedeva anche da lontano: era dappertutto, luccicava tra le case, spuntava in fondo alle vie che scendevano a rotta di collo verso il basso. In fondo si stendeva il quartiere del porto con la sua fila di semplici bar in legno, odorosi di pesce, vino e caffè. Ma le folate di vento portavano soprattutto il sentore acre del mare e il suo fresco alito ristoratore. Non avevo mai visto un luogo dove la natura fosse così benevola nei confronti dell'uomo. C'era tutto: il sole, il vento fresco, l'aria chiara, l'argento del mare. Avevo letto talmente tanto su di esso, che mi sembrava di conoscerlo. Nelle sue onde piatte c'era il bel tempo, la pace e l'invito a viaggiare, a conoscere . Veniva voglia di unirsi ai pescatori che salpavano da riva in quel momento.”

MareViaggiareMediterraneoAlgeriErodoto
Book:Travels with Herodotus
Create image

“Man knows, and in the course of years he comes to know it increasingly well, feeling it ever more acutely, that memory is weak and fleeting, and if he doesn't write down what he has learned and experienced, that which he carries within him will perish when he does. This is when it seems everyone wants to write a book. Singers and football players, politicians and millionaires. And if they themselves do not know how, or else lack the time, they commission someone else to do it for them...engendering this reality is the impression of writing as a simple pursuit, though those who subscribe to that view might do well to ponder Thomas Mann's observation that, 'a writer is a man for whom writing is more difficult than it is for others”

Writing
Book:Travels with Herodotus
Create image