Tzvetan Todorov Quotes

إن معرفة الأدب ليست غاية لذاتها ،وإنما هي إحدى السبل الأكيدة التي تقود إلى إكتمال كل إنسان

The past requires not only that we study it and know it, but also that we learn its lessons - for this simple reason: evil is not just a thing of the past.

Toutes les opinions ne se valent pas, et il ne faut pas confondre l'éloquence d'une parole avec la justesse d'une pensée.

la foi, il ne s’agit jamais d’une abstraction, mais d’individus vivants que l’on connaît personnellement. Manquer à ce souci-là n’est pas une faute qui fait encourir le blâme ; mais c’est une rupture tacite de contrat. C’est ce qu’illustre une scène racontée par

Cierto es que este mal no era homogéneo, de otra manera la vida no hubiera sido posible: yo seguía encontrándome con gente maravillosa, o me aprovechaba de gestos maravillosos de quienes no siempre los tenían. En ausencia de una vida pública decente, la vida privada latía a plenitud (aun cuando en esos momentos yo no me daba cuenta de ello): los amores, las amistades, las pasiones intelectuales o artísticas, eran intensos

Toda obra, toda novela, narra a través de la trama de los acontecimientos la historia de su propia creación, su propia historia.

The decision to use torture as a terror of retribution gives an inner satisfaction to the person who practises it, even if this is difficult for him to accept openly. Having been injured and humiliated by aggression, he can now humiliate in his turn those whom he considers to be his aggressors, and rediscover his self-esteem. As an ex-soldier of the Algerian War explains, forty years after the events: ‘You could feel a certain form of jubilation while being present at such extreme scenes . . . Doing to a body whatever you feel like doing to it.’ Reducing the other to a state of complete impotence gives you a feeling of supreme power. This feeling is one which torture gives you more than murder does, since the latter does not last: once dead, the other becomes an inert object and no longer produces that jubilation which stems from fully triumphing over the will of another, without his ceasing to exist.

When the critic has said everything in his power about a literary text, he has still said nothing; for the very existence of literature implies that it cannot be replaced by non-literature

American society has always exercised a stronger pressure on individual behavior than Western European societies; but in time of war this pressure is notched a few degrees, and starts to become quite alarming.

Pride is not a wise counselor. People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world. The absence of any obstacle to the deployment of strength is dangerous for the strong themselves: passion takes precedence over reason. "No power without limit can be legitimate," as Montesquieu wrote long ago. Political wisdom does not consist in seeking only immediate victory, nor does it require systematic preference of "us" over "them."

В голямата си част медиите не се задоволяват да показват войната, те я възхваляват; след като са избрали своя лагер, те дават приноса си във военните усилия. Честно казано, войната почти винаги предизвиква вълнение, може би защото представлява par excellence ситуацията, в която в името на висшия идеал човек е готов да рискува най-ценното за него нещо – своя живот.

Democracy brought to others through the barrel of a gun is not democracy; to impose it by force is to undermine it.

Il est donc possible d’introduire une distinction au milieu des héros et des saints : entre ceux qui désirent que les êtres humains soient les bénéficiaires de leur action – et ceux qui les oublient, n’aspirant qu’à avoir un comportement conforme à l’idéal d’héroïsme ou de sainteté.

On voit que choisir la mort a ici une tout autre signification que dans les vertus héroïques. Là-bas, la mort finit par devenir une valeur et un but, car elle incarne l’absolu mieux que la vie. Ici, elle est moyen et non fin ; elle est l’ultime recours de l’individu désirant affirmer sa dignité.

La literatura utiliza las figuras retóricas como un arma en su antagonismo con el sentido puro, con la significación abstracta que han tomado las palabras en el discurso cotidiano.