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Quote by W.G. Sebald

“A strikingly large number of our settlements are oriented to the west and, where circumstances permit, relocate in a westward direction. The east stands for lost causes. Especially at the time that the continent of America was being colonized, it was noticeable that the townships spread to the west even was their eastern districts were falling apart.”

Quote by W.G. Sebald

Work

The Rings of Saturn

In this travel narrative, the author embarks on a journey across Japan, intertwining his experiences with philosophical musings and cultural insights. The book is a blend of personal anecdotes and broader observations, offering a unique perspective on the country and its people. more

Author

W.G. Sebald

Browse famous quotes and profile details for W.G. Sebald. more

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“Korean woman who had escaped from the North to the South. She was talking about love. ‘If you grow up in the West,’ she said, ‘you may think romance occurs naturally, but it does not. You learn how to be romantic from books and movies, or from observation. But there was no model to learn from in my parents’ time. They didn’t even have the language to talk about their feelings. You just had to guess how your beloved felt from the look in his eyes, or the tone of her voice as she spoke to you.”

“The need has to be defined by an Individual. If the basic need of quenching thirst can be met by a glass of water, everything beyond that is indulgence. Ego makes organizations sell products and services that deviate from servicing the needs to making higher profits. The further away you get from fulfilling a need and into making people believe that they need to buy a certain product or services as a necessity, the more tension builds into the system.”

“On closer inspection, however, the event in question turns out to be rather more mysterious, rather more of an unidentified 'historical' object. The thawing out of the countries of the East is without doubt an extraordinary turn of events. But what exactly happens to freedom when it is defrosted? Such an operation must be a hazardous one, its outcome uncertain (quite apart from the fact that you are not supposed to refreeze what you have once defrosted). The USSR and the Eastern bloc constituted not just a deep-freeze for freedom but also a laboratory, an experimental environment in which freedom was isolated and subjected to very high pressures. The West, on the other hand, is merely a museum - or, more accurately, a dump - for freedom and the Rights of Man. If deep-freezing was the distinctive (and negative) mark of the Eastern universe, the ultra-fluidity of our Western universe is even more disreputable, because thanks to the liberation and liberalization of our mores and beliefs, the problem of freedom can simply no longer be posed. Rather, it is virtually resolved. In the West, freedom - the Idea of freedom - has died its fine death; all the recent commemorations have clearly shown that the idea of freedom is gone. In the East it has been murdered - but there is no such thing as the perfect crime.”

“Moradi hated using the word "West." He preferred just saying the US or if he wanted to bundle the entire Western Hemisphere, then he would go by the book and say the Occident. He also didn't label Iran as a "Middle Eastern" country. He would always say things like "with Iran being in West Asia." It was a tactical move. After all Iranians weren't Arabs, and this way he aligned Iran with the "West.”

“I'm sure it is," she replied. Her expression turned fierce, making her look far different from the scattered teacher I knew. "But listen to me when I say this. You are exceptional, taleneted, and brilliant young woman. Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you're less. Do not ever let anyone make you feel invisible. Do not let anyone-not even a teacher who constantly sends you for coffee-push you around." She put her glasses back on and began randomly lifting up pieces of papers. At last, she found a pen and grinned triumphantly. "Now, then. What is your brother's name?”

“She had heard that the first dragons came from the east, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai and the islands of the Jade Sea ... Magic had died in the west when the Doom fell on Valyria and the Lands of the Long Summer, and neither spell-forged steel nor stormsingers nor dragons could hold it back, but Dany had always heard that the east was different. ... "A trader from Qarth once told me that dragons came from the moon," blonde Doreah said...”

“She had heard that the first dragons had come from the east, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai and the islands of the Jade Sea ... Magic had died in the west when the Doom fell on Valyria and the Lands of the Long Summer, and neither spell-forged steel nor stormsingers nor dragons could hold it back, but Dany had always heard that the east was different. ... "A trader from Qarth once told me that dragons came from the moon," blonde Doreah said...”