Karel Čapek Quotes

„Друго нещо, което прави впечатление на пътешественика в Англия, са английските тревни площи – не само зелени и гъсти като никъде другаде по света, но по тях е разрешено и да се ходи свободно. Предполагам, че Англия е станала земя на свободата за това, защото там е разрешено да се гази по тревните площи. Може би затова в историята на Англия е имало толкова малко революции, защото британците са могли да задоволяват непрекъснато инстинкта си за свобода само с ходене по поляните. Не смятам за изключено дори и това, че Британия е започнала да владее вълните, защото си е представяла морето като голяма затревена площ, по която всеки е свободен да се отправя в каквато посока си иска.

Bude muset být světová válka, aby si státy mohly rozdělit moře. Ale my zůstaneme neutrální. Někdo přece musí zůstat neutrální, aby dodával zbraně a všecko těm druhým. Tak je to,

The school books are full of paid advertisements, and rubbish at that.

Nothing refreshes the soul like precision. Precision denotes order in the universe.

"What's in the papers then, Son?" he asked with the curtness of a father. "Nothing much, Dad," his son answered. "I saw that those newts have got up as far as Dresden, though." "Germanys had it then," Mr. Povondra asserted. "They're funny people you know, those Germans. They're well educated, but they're funny. I knew a German once, chauffeur he was for some factory; and he wasn't half coarse, this German. Mind you, he kept the car in good condition, I'll say that for him. And now look, Germanys disappearing from the map of the world," Mr. Povondra ruminated. "And all that fuss they used to make! Terrible, it was: everything for the army and everything for the soldiers. But not even they were any match for these newts. And I know about these newts, you know that, don't you. Remember when I took you out to show you one of them when you were only so high?" "Watch out, Dad," said his son, "you've got a bite." "That's only a tiddler," the old man grumbled as he twitched on his rod. Even Germany now, he thought to himself. No-one even bats an eyelid at it these days. What a song and dance they used to make at first whenever these newts flooded anywhere! Even if it was only Mesopotamia or China, the papers were full of it. Not like that now, Mr. Povondra contemplated sadly, staring out at his rod. You get used to anything, I suppose. At least they're not here, though; but I wish the prices weren't so high! Think what they charge for coffee these days! I suppose that's what you have to expect if they go and flood Brazil. If part of the world disappears underwater it has its effect in the shops. The float on Mr. Povondra's line danced about on the ripples of the water. How much of the world is it they've flooded so far then?, the old man considered. There's Egypt and India and China - they've even gone into Russia; and that was a big country, that was, Russia! When you think, all the way up from the Black Sea as far the Arctic Circle - all water! You can't say they haven't

PETR: — Slysite?

JIRI: Co?

PETR: To ticho.

ONDRA: Jako by nekdo chtel neco rici.

PETR: Kdo - ? [Diva se z jednoho na druheho a pak se obrati k rozhlasove skrince.] Uz vim.

OTEC [zveda hlavu]: Co je? [Obraci se k rozhlasu.]

JIRI [zveda hlavu]: Co mate? [Diva se napjate k amplionu.]

[Vsichni obraceni tvari k amplionu. Pauza.]

MATKA: Kdyz chete - Vas uz nic jineho nezajima jen ta valka. [Otoci knoflikem radia.]

KORNEL: Kdyz je valka, mami, tak se dela valka.

MUZSKY HLAS V AMPLIONU: — predvoj se blizi k rece. Dobrovolne cety vyhodily mosty do povetri a jsou pripraveny hajit predmosti do posledniho muze. Nepritel musi byt zdrzen stuj co stuj. Dobrovolnici vam vzkazuji: padneme, ale neustoupime.

ZENSKY HLAS V AMPLIONU: Slyste, slyste, slyste! Volame vsechny muze do zbrane. Volame vsechny muze. Na nas uz nezalezi. Uz nebojujeme za sebe, ale za zem svych otcu a deti. Ve jmenu mrtvych i budoucich, volame do zbrane cely narod!

Маршал. Так, я розбудив у ньому волю до життя. Ви вірите, що мир кращий за війну. А я вірю, що переможна війна краща за мир. І не маю права позбавляти свій народ заслуженої перемоги.
Гален. І безлічі полеглих, адже так?
Маршал. І безлічі полеглих. Голубе мій, тільки кров полеглих робить із шматка землі вітчизну. Тільки війна може зробити з людей націю, а з чоловіків — героїв.
Гален. І мерців. Розумієте, мерців я бачив на війні куди частіше.

His life was now the life of a collector, and that gave it meaning. Evening after evening he would count and arrange his cuttings under the indulgent eyes of Mrs. Povondra who knew that every man is partly mad and partly a little child; it was better for him to play with his cuttings than to go out drinking and playing cards. She even made some space in the scullery for all the boxes he had made himself for his collection; could anything more be asked of a wife?

Helena: And then I thought that...if they were like us they would understand us and they wouldn’t hate us so — if they were only a little bit human!”
Domin: Oh Helena! No one can hate more than man hates man! Transform stones into people and they’ll stone us! But go on!

HELENA Perhaps it’s silly of me, but why do you manufacture female Robots when — when DOMIN When sex means nothing to them? HELENA Yes. DOMIN There’s a certain demand for them, you see. Servants, saleswomen, stenographers. People are used to it.

Státní hrdinec by zkrátka byla škola pro výchovu k hrdinství.

Monolog je hrozná věc, trochu jako sebeničení, něco jako přetínání pout, která vás vážou k životu; člověk, který vede monolog, už není jenom osamělý, nýbrž je vyřaděn nebo ztracen.

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.

Stop it now! D’you think I can work miracles? What must be will be. Let everything take its inexorable course! There’s some kind of consolation even in this: that whatever is happening follows its own inevitability and its own law.

Noon. We have to blow the whistle because the Robots don’t know when to stop work.