Home > Author > Svetlana Alexievich
101 " I don’t like the word “hero.” There are no heroes in war. As soon as someone picks up a weapon, they can no longer be good. They won’t be able to. "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
102 " الضمير هو ترف بالنسبة الى جندي "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War
103 " I told you. There’s nothing heroic here, nothing for the writer’s pen. I had thoughts like, It’s not wartime, why should I have to risk myself while someone else is sleeping with my wife? Why me again, and not him? To be honest, I didn’t see any heroes there. I saw nutcases, who didn’t care about their own lives, and I had enough craziness myself, but it wasn’t necessary. I also have medals and awards—but that’s because I wasn’t afraid of dying. I didn’t care! It was even something of an out. They’d have buried me with honors. And the government would have paid for it. "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
104 " People ask me: “Why don’t you take photos in color? In color!” But Chernobyl: literally it means black event. There are no other colors there. "
105 " Transcurrieron unos treinta años hasta que empezaron a rendirnos honores... A invitarnos a dar ponencias... Al principio nos escondíamos, ni siquiera enseñábamos nuestras condecoraciones. Los hombres se las ponían, las mujeres no. Los hombres eran los vencedores, los héroes; los novios habían hecho la guerra, pero a nosotros nos miraban con otros ojos. De un modo muy diferente... Nos arrebataron la Victoria, ¿sabes? "
― Svetlana Alexievich , War's Unwomanly Face
106 " Let time be the judge. Time is just, but only in the long term—not in the short term. The time we won’t live to see, which will be free of our prejudices. "
107 " The only righteous thing on the face of the earth is death. No one has ever bribed their way out of that. The earth takes us all: the good, the evil and the sinners. And that's all the justice you'll find in this world. "
108 " People are constantly forced to choose between having freedom and having success and stability; freedom with suffering or happiness without freedom. The majority choose the latter. "
109 " Truth is communal. "
― Svetlana Alexievich
110 " Happiness is beyond the mountains, but grief is just over the shoulder "
111 " I often thought that the simples fact, the mechanical fact, is no closer to the truth than a vague feeling, rumor, vision. Why repeat the facts - they cover up our feelings. The development of these feelings, the spilling of these feelings past the facts, is what fascinantes me. I try to find them, collect them, protect them. "
112 " Es imposible tener un corazón para el odio y otro para el amor. El ser humano tiene un solo corazón, y yo siempre pensaba en cómo salvar el mío. "
113 " That’s how it was in the beginning. We didn’t just lose a town, we lost our whole lives. "
114 " How did you make it out of there alive?” “My parents loved me a lot when I was little.” We’re saved by the amount of love we get, it’s our safety net. Yes…only love can save us. Love is a vitamin that humans can’t live without—the blood curdles, the heart stops. I "
115 " Así es como vivo. Vivo a la vez en un mundo real y en otro irreal. Y no sé dónde estoy mejor. "
116 " Morirse no es difícil, solo da miedo. "
117 " He’s going to die.” I understood later on that you can’t think that way. I cried in the bathroom. None of the mothers cry in the hospital rooms. They cry in the toilets, the baths. I come back cheerful: “Your cheeks are red. You’re getting better.” “Mom, take me out of the hospital. I’m going to die here. Everyone here dies.” Now where am I going to cry? In the bathroom? There’s a line for the bathroom—everyone like me is in that line. "
118 " A bullet is alone, and man is alone; a bullet flies wherever it likes, and fate twists a man however it likes. "
119 " Somebody betrayed us... The Germans learned the location of our partisan troop. They surrounded the forest from all sides. We were hiding in the deep woods, hiding in the swamps where the torturers did not go [...] A radio operator was with us. She gave birth recently. The baby was hungry... Wanting the breast... But the mother is starving, she has no milk, and the baby is crying. The Germans are nearby... With dogs... If the dogs hear the baby, we're all dead. All of us - thirty people... Do you understand? We make a decision... Nobody dares to tell her the commader's order, but the mother guesses it herself. She puts the bundle with the baby into the water and holds it there for a long time... The baby does not cry... Not a sound... And we cannot lift our eyes. We cannot look at the mother or at each other "
120 " In the center there is always this: how unbearable and unthinkable it is to die. And how much more unbearable and unthinkable it is to kill, because a woman gives life. Gives it. Bears it in herself for a long time, nurses it. I understood that it is more difficult for women to kill. "