The past is a darkness crowded with voices.
過去是一片擠滿聲音的黑暗。
The dead are never far from us. They’re in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one last puff of air.
死者離我們從不遙遠。他們在我們心中,在我們腦海里,最終將我們與他們分隔開的不過是一口氣息,最后一縷空氣。
To be a writer is to be a spy on life.
成為作家就是成為生活的間諜。
The past is a cupboard full of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door.
The truth is not always probable, or likely.
真相并不總是合理或可能的。
Every act of writing is an act of betrayal.
每一次寫作都是背叛的行為。
The historian must have some kinship with his subject. The dead will not speak unless they are properly addressed.
歷史學家必須與其研究對象有某種親緣關系。死者不會開口,除非你以恰當?shù)姆绞胶魡舅麄儭?/div>
The present is always an unstable place, the past is where we think we know where we are.
當下總是不穩(wěn)定的地方,而過去是我們自以為知道身在何處的地方。
A novel should be a book of questions, not a book of answers.
The dead are visible only in the terrible lidless eyes of memory.
死者只存在于記憶那可怕的無瞼之眼中。
The past is not dead. It is not even past.
History is not the past—it is the method we have evolved of organizing our ignorance of the past.