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Quote by TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA Giuseppe -

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Il Gattopardo Edizione conforme al manoscritto del 1957

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TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA Giuseppe -

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“They had hoped that someplace, somewhere, someone heard them, that their own little dreams would come true, that very soon they would meet someone they could trust, could love and be happy with. Some of the wishes came true, but it made no difference to the city because it had been built to endure beyond the lifetime of all the people that inhabited it. That is the way things were. And if things did not change, the way it would always be.”

“He had once said to Cranmer, the dreams of kings are not the dreams of other men. They are susceptible to visions, in which the figures of their ancestors come to speak to them of war, vengeance, law and power. Dead kings visit them; they say, ‘Do you know us, Henry? We know you.’ There are places in the realm where battles have been fought, places where, the wind in a certain direction, the moon waning, the night obscure, you can hear the thunder of hooves and the creak of harness and the screams of the slain; and if you creep close — if you were thin air, suppose you were a spirit who could slide between blades of grass — then you would hear the aspirations of the dying, you would hear them cry to God for mercy. And all these, the souls of England, cry to me, the king tells him, to me and every king: each king carries the crimes of other kings, and the need for restitution rolls forward down the years.”