Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems.
Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence.
To be born again, first you must die.
要重生,首先你必須死去。
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems—but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
現(xiàn)實是一個視角問題;你離過去越遠,它看起來就越具體和可信——但當你接近現(xiàn)在時,它不可避免地顯得越來越不可思議。
A dream is a place where a wish and a fear meet. When the wish and the fear are exactly equally balanced, you call the dream a nightmare.
夢是愿望和恐懼相遇的地方。當愿望和恐懼完全平衡時,你稱這個夢為噩夢。
Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence.
我們生活中最重要的大部分事情都在我們不在的時候發(fā)生。
We all owe death a life.
Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as they change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
The only thing of value is the thing you cannot buy.
唯一有價值的東西是你無法買到的東西。
A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection — unless you lie — in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician.
作家的生活是高度脆弱、幾乎赤裸的活動。我們不必為此哭泣。作家做出了選擇并堅持它。但可以說,你向所有的風敞開,其中一些確實冰冷。你獨自一人,處于危險之中。你找不到庇護,沒有保護——除非你撒謊——在這種情況下,你當然已經(jīng)構(gòu)建了自己的保護,可以說,成為了一個政治家。
The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any society, because it seeks to turn other ideas — uncertainty, progress, change — into crimes.