|
a4cd0bc
|
Irony is Fate's most common figure of speech.
|
|
irony
figures-of-speech
|
Trevanian |
|
a6a8fac
|
It was not their irritating assumption of equality that annoyed Nicholai so much as their cultural confusions. The Americans seemed to confuse standard of living with quality of life, equal opportunity with institutionalized mediocrity, bravery with courage, machismo with manhood, liberty with freedom, wordiness with articulation, fun with pleasure - in short, all of the misconceptions common to those who assume that justice implies equalit..
|
|
youth
|
Trevanian |
|
938ac04
|
It's not Americans I find annoying; it's Americanism: a social disease of the postindustrial world that must inevitably infect each of the mercantile nations in turn, and is called 'American' only because your nation is the most advanced case of the malady, much as one speaks of Spanish flu, or Japanese Type-B encephalitis. It's symptoms are a loss of work ethic, a shrinking of inner resources, and a constant need for external stimulation, ..
|
|
social-commentary
satire
|
Trevanian |
|
bf1e67c
|
Your scorn for mediocrity blinds you to its vast primitive power. You stand in the glare of your own brilliance, unable to see into the dim corners of the room, to dilate your eyes and see the potential dangers of the mass, the wad of humanity. Even as I tell you this, dear student, you cannot quite believe that lesser men, in whatever numbers, can really defeat you. But we are in the age of the mediocre man. He is dull, colorless, boring -..
|
|
inarticulate
masses
wad
shibumi
|
Trevanian |
|
9a35172
|
Hana: What on Earth is a 'barbeque'? Hel: A primitive tribal ritual featuring paper plates, elbows, flying insects, encrusted meat, hush puppies, and beer. Hana: I daren't ask what a 'hush puppy' is. Hel: Don't.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
0dfcc64
|
You can gain experience, if you are careful to avoid empty redundancy. Do not fall into the error of the artisan who boasts of twenty years experience in craft while in fact he has had only one year of experience-twenty times. And never resent the advantage of experience your elders have. Recall that they have paid for this experience in the coin of life, and have emptied a purse that cannot be refilled.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
d111fd2
|
And he recalled the ancient adage: Who must do the harsh things? He who can.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
1368313
|
Generalization is flawed thinking only when applied to individuals. It is the most accurate way to describe the mass, the Wad. And yours is a democracy, a dictatorship of the Wad.
|
|
politics
generalizations
|
Trevanian |
|
608135b
|
Go is to Western chess what philosophy is to double-entry accounting.
|
|
chess
go
games
|
Trevanian |
|
fcc85fb
|
has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of takes the form of , it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. In philosophy, where emerges ..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
2fa0278
|
We all desire to be understood, but no one enjoys being obvious.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
3fabe62
|
In seeming contradiction of physical laws, time is heavy only when it is empty.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
98e9dfa
|
It is revealing of the American culture that its prototypic hero is the cowboy: an uneducated, boorish, Victorian migrant agricultural worker.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
d688496
|
Itiraf ruha iyi gelir, Montjean. Ruhu bosaltir, yeni gunahlar icin yer hazirlar.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
43cd51a
|
The rope connecting two men on a mountain is more than nylon protection; it is an organic thing that transmits subtle messages of intent and disposition from man to man; it is an extension of the tactile senses, a psychological bond, a wire along which currents of communication flow.
|
|
mountaineering
|
Trevanian |
|
305dbff
|
Ripe for romance? Is that not only the self-conscious and sensitive young man's way of saying he was heavy with passion? Is not, perhaps, romance only the fiction by means of which the tender-minded negotiate their lust?
|
|
youth
lust
|
Trevanian |
|
94fb506
|
Niko? I have decided to christen this little pool Le Cagot's Soul." "Oh?" "Yes. Because it is clear and pure and lucid." "And treacherous and dangerous?" "You know, Niko, I begin to suspect that you are a man of prose. It is a blemish on you." "No one's perfect." "Speak for yourself."
|
|
prose
|
Trevanian |
|
6ccecf8
|
Shibumi, s'r? -- Nikolai poznavashe dumata, no samo kogato se izpolzvashe za gradini i arkhitektura, k'deto oznachavashe nenatrapchiva krasota. -- V kak'v smis'l izpolzvate poniatieto, s'r? -- O, neiasno. I predpolagam, nepravilno. Glupav opit da se obiasni neizrazimo kachestvo. Kakto znaesh, pri shibumi triabva da ima edno prechistvane na niskite, banalnite misli. Tova e edno izraziavane -- tolkova pravilno, che niama nuzhda da e smelo, to..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
4ea443d
|
Niceness is an overrated quality. Being nice is how a man pays his way into a party if he hasn't the guts to be tough or the class to be brilliant.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
835a080
|
As you know, shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brev..
|
|
philosophy
shibumi
understatement
|
Trevanian |
|
e016e38
|
Ben gelecegi hep yiginlar halinde 'bugun' olmayi bekleyen yarinlardan olusmus diye gorurum.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
2b53ac5
|
All right. But take my advice, Mr. Hel. Don't let this chance get away. Opportunity doesn't knock twice, you know." "Penetrating observation. Did you make up the epigram?" "I'll see you tomorrow." "Very well. And ask the guard to knock on my cell door twice. I wouldn't want to confuse him with opportunity."
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
c5a322f
|
Listen!" Hannah pled. "Is there someone who could drive me to the Chateau of Etchebar?" A quick conference was held between the cafe owner and the mousse players. There was some argument and a considerable amount of clarification and restatement of positions. Then the proprietor delivered the consensus opinion. "No."
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
91a76f6
|
A lee-tle bit
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
c686ee4
|
The Trevanian Buff is a strange and wonderful creature: an outsider, a natural elitist, not so much a cynic as an idealist mugged by reality, not just one of those who march to a different drummer, but the solo drummer in a parade of one.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
376a556
|
Well, of course one must have concentration. Courage. Self-control. That goes without saying. But more important than these, one must have... I don't know how to say it. One must be both a mathematician and a poet. As though poetry were a science; or mathematics an art. One
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
4bdb144
|
Dedikodu bizim kadinlarimiza gunahin tadini cikarma olanagi verir. Kendi islemeyecekleri, isleyemeyecekleri gunahlar. Cunku onlari cesaretsizlikleri, hayal guclerinin eksikligi ve firsatsizlik engelliyor. Biz de bu eksikliklere namus diyoruz.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
39d1395
|
It is a truism of American politics that no man who can win an election deserves to.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
7cef844
|
However, little by little, I am coming to the view that what I mistook for humility was, in fact, an accurate evaluation of your worth.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
85ed90e
|
No one really likes Switzerland, except those who prefer cleanliness to life.
|
|
switzerland
|
Trevanian |
|
ea3f04f
|
Sikilmak ve kizmak benim dostumun kullandigi duygulardan degildir.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
8d10ed8
|
Indeed, my first interest in the pioneer work of Doctor Freud sprang, not from a concern for persons wounded in their collisions with reality, but from my personal curiosity about the nature of creativity and the springs of motivation. So
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
92b21c9
|
Why did I submit myself to the butchery of the trenches when I might have served in the echelons as a medical officer? Even the most rudimentary knowledge of Doctor Freud would suggest that I was pursuing a death wish
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
2847f44
|
The years passed unnoticed and unremembered, and one autumn morning I found myself suddenly forty-five years old. It was a time for weighing youthful hopes against mature accomplishment, for it was quite certain that I had by then done all I was ever going to do. Sitting alone at my desk that evening of my forty-fifth birthday I asked that least original of introspective questions: Where had it all gone? And the somewhat less banal question..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
2752b94
|
Hayir, senin en buyuk kusurun tecrubesizligin degil. Kayitsizligin. Yenilgilerini senden daha zeki ve yetenekli olanlarin elinden tatmayacaksin. Seni yenenler, sabirli, sinsi, orta duzeyde insanlar olacak.>> ...... <
|
|
hayat
kalabalık
yetenek
|
Trevanian |
|
|
f6a637d
|
Zevk, okuma ve rahatlik yeterliydi Nicholai icin. (...) Eglence gibi bir uyusturucu maddeye de gereksinim duymuyordu.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
8d3a3d1
|
gun olup beni sevecegi dusuncesiyle avunamazdim. genctim, romantiktim ama,aski zamanla buyuyup gelisen bir sey olarak goremiyordum. maddelerine uyulacak bir anlasma degildi ask.ya bir butundu, sizi tumuyle icine alirdi ya da ask degildi. baska bir seydi belki.daha mantikli,daha sakin bir sey. kendine gore yine guzel bir sey... ama o seyi istemiyordum ben." "bana da acimakla vakit kaybetme montjean. ben hayatta kendi durumumu dikkatle saptad..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
f3755ae
|
The shabby look was not his tailor's fault; the Arab's body was not designed for clothes requiring posture and discipline.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
04f0e12
|
Obtuseness was its own defense
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
2675fce
|
a man is happiest when there is a balance between his needs and his possessions. Now the question is: how to achieve this balance. One could seek to do this by increasing his goods to the level of his appetites, but that would be stupid. It would involve doing unnatural things--bargaining, haggling, scrimping, working. Ergo? Ergo, the wise man achieves the balance by reducing his needs to the level of his possessions. And this is best done ..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
5b9355b
|
Hepimiz karsimizdakinin bizi anlamasini isteriz ama, ayna gibi icimiz disimiz gorunsun istemeyiz.
|
|
trevanian
|
Trevanian |
|
af193a1
|
Of course these gifts were reckless extravagances for a family that was never more than a couple of dollars and a few days away from hunger, but that's how poor people cope with being marooned in poverty while all around them flows the frothy stream of the consumer culture.
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
504a178
|
When I hear middle-class people complain about the poor buying luxuries for their kids when they don't even have enough for groceries, I remember the lavish Christmases my mother gave us, even at the risk of breaking up the family. Prudence is a bourgeois virtue, because the rich have something worth saving. The poor splurge because they need desperately to make a colorful splash across the drab fabric of their lives. The hungry don't dream..
|
|
|
Trevanian |
|
50d02f9
|
But he could feel nothing but disdain for the artificial class of the merchant, who sucks up his living through buying and selling things he does not create, who collects power and wealth out of proportion to his discrimination, and who is responsible for all that is kitsch, for all that is change without progress, for all that is consumption without use.
|
|
|
Trevanian |