Karel Čapek Quotes

There came into the world an unlimited abundance of everything people need. But people need everything except unlimited abundance.

… Англия почти по всичко се различава от континента, като се започне от тревата и бръшляна и се свърши с университета и парламента.

But in ten years’ time Rossum’s Universal Robots will be making so much wheat, so much material, so much of everything that nothing will cost anything. Everyone will be able to just take as much as he needs. Nobody will live in poverty. They won’t have jobs, that’s true, but that’s because there won’t be any jobs to do. Everything will be done by living machines. People will do only the things they want to do, they can live their lives just so that they can make themselves perfect.

Thunder, there are so many beautiful things! The world was beautiful and we — we — Boys, boys, tell me, what did we ever take the time to enjoy?

Old Rossum thought only of his godless hocus-pocus and young Rossum of his billions. And that wasn't the dream of your R. U. R. shareholders either. They dreamed of the dividends. And on those dividends humanity will perish.

S te, Szent Tamás, a detektívek patrónusa vagy, mert nem hitted el a rejtélyt, míg bele nem tetted ujjadat a sebbe; látván pedig, hogy azt hegyes fémtárgy okozta, s a szúrás alulról jött, és teljességgel halálos volt, megnyugtatóan felderítettnek vélted az esetet.

Three days after the earthquake in Louisiana there was another geological catastrophe announced, this time in China. The coast of the province of Kiangsu, north of Nanking, about half way between the mouth of the Yangtse and the old bed of the Hwangho, was ripped apart in a powerful, thunderous earthquake; the sea gushed into this fissure and joined up with the great lakes of Pan Yoon and Hungtsu between the cities of Hwaingan and Fugyang. Apparently as a result of the earthquake, the Yangtse left its course below Nanking and flowed down towards Lake Tai and on to Hang-Cho. Loss of human life cannot, so far, even be estimated. Hundred of thousands of refugees are fleeing into the provinces to the north and south. Japanese warships have been given orders to sail to the affected area.

Socialism is good when it comes to wages, but it tells me nothing when it comes to other questions in life that are more private and painful, for which I must seek answers elsewhere. Relativism is not indifference; on the contrary, passionate indifference is necessary in order for you not to hear the voices that oppose your absolute decrees … Relativism is neither a method of fighting, nor a method of creating, for both of these are uncompromising and at times even ruthless; rather, it is a method of cognition. If one must fight or create, it is necessary that this be preceded by the broadest possible knowledge ... One of the worst muddles of this age is its confusing of the ideas behind combative and cognitive activity. Cognition is not fighting, but once someone knows a lot, he will have much to fight for, so much that he will be called a relativist because of it.

Perhaps we've been killed these hundred years and are only ghosts. It's as if I had been through all this before; as if I'd already had a mortal wound here in the throat.

We made the Robots look too much alike. A hundred thousand identical faces all looking this way. A hundred thousand expressionless faces. It's a nightmare.

Only years of practice will teach you the mysteries and bold certainty of a real gardener, who treads at random, yet tramples on nothing.

V sergejevském klášteře jsem byl hostem u otce igumena -
pozoroval jsem tu nevzdělanost a pověrečnost pravoslaví; a tím chtěli slavjanofilové zachránit
Slovanstvo! Celkem jsem si odnesl z Ruska totéţ, co Havlíček: lásku k ruskému lidu a nechuť
k oficiální politice a k panující inteligenci.

Celkem jsem si odnesl z Ruska totéţ, co Havlíček: lásku k ruskému lidu a nechuť
k oficiální politice a k panující inteligenci.

A já vám něco povím: To, čemu říkáme náš život, to není všecko, co jsme prožili; je to jen výběr. Toho, co prožíváme, je příliš mnoho, víc než nač stačí náš rozum. Proto si jen vybíráme to a ono, co se nám hodí, a jaksi z toho upleteme takový zjednodušený děj; a tomu výrobku říkáme náš život. Ale co odpadků přitom necháváme, co divných a strašných věcí pomíjíme, kristepane, kdyby to si člověk uvědomil! Ale my můžeme žít jen jeden jednoduchý život. Bylo by nad naši sílu prožít víc. Neměli bychom sílu nést život, kdybychom nepoztráceli cestou většinu života.

One never knows whether people have principles on principle or whether for their own personal satisfaction.