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Piranesi

Book by Susanna Clarke · 27 quotes · Piranesi, Perspective, Clarke

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Piranesi Quotes

“I took his poor, broken head into my lap and cradled it. 'Your good looks are gone,' I told him. 'But you mustn't worry about it. This unsightly condition is only temporary. Don't be sad. Don't fear. I will place you somewhere where the fish and the birds can strip away all this broken flesh. It will soon be gone. Then you will be a handsome skull and handsome bones. I will put you in good order and you can rest in the Sunlight and the Starlight. The Statues will look down on you with Blessing. I am sorry that I was angry with you. Forgive me.”

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“My first great insight happened when I realised how much humankind had lost. Once, men and women were able to turn themselves into eagles and fly immense distances. They communed with rivers and mountains and received wisdom from them. They felt the turning of stars inside their own minds. My contemporaries did not understand this. They were all enamoured with the idea of progress and believed that whatever was new must be superior to what was old. As if merit was a function of chronology! But it seemed to me that the wisdom of the ancients could not have simply vanished. Nothing simply vanishes. It's not actually possible. I pictured it as a sort of energy flowing out of the world and I thought this energy must be going somewhere. That was when I realised that there must be other places, other worlds. And so I set myself to find them.”

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“…quizás la estatua que más me gusta, se encuentra en una puerta entre la quinta y la cuarta sala del noroeste. Es la Estatua de un Fauno, una criatura mitad hombre y mitad cabra, con una cabeza de exuberantes rizos. Sonríe ligeramente y se lleva el dedo índice a los labios. Siempre he tenido la impresión de que quería decirme algo o tal vez advertirme de algo: ¡Silencio! parece decir. ¡Ten cuidado!”

AutorasLiteratura FantásticaLiteratura Británica
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“...the Other World has different things in it. Words such as "Manchester" and "police station" have no meaning here. Because these things do not exist. Words such as "river" and "mountain" do have meaning but only because those things are depicted in the Statues. I suppose that these things must exist in the Older World. In this World the Statues depict things that exist in the Older World.' 'Yes,' said Raphael. 'Here you can only see a representation of a river or a mountain, but in our world--the other world--you can see the actual river and the actual mountain.' This annoyed me. 'I do not see why you say I can ONLY see a representation in this World,' I said with some sharpness. 'The word "only" suggests a relationship of inferiority. You make it sound as if the Statue was somehow inferior to the thing itself. I do not see that that is the case at all. I would argue that the Statue is superior to the thing itself, the Statue being perfect, eternal and not subject to decay.' 'Sorry,' said Raphael. 'I didn't mean to disparage your world.' There was a silence. 'What is the Other World like?' I asked.”

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“I realized that the search for the Knowledge has encouraged us to think of the House as if it were a sort of riddle to be unravelled, a text to be interpreted, and that if ever we discover the Knowledge, then it will be as if the Value has been wrested from the House and all that remains will be mere scenery. The sight of the One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Second Western Hall in the Moonlight made me see how ridiculous that is. The House is valuable because it is the House. It is enough in and of itself. It is not the means to an end.”

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