Home > Author > Svetlana Alexievich
121 " I'm a product of my time. I'm not a criminal. "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
122 " There’s a fragment of some conversation, I’m remembering it. Someone is saying: “You have to understand: this is not your husband anymore, not a beloved person, but a radioactive object with a strong density of poisoning. You’re not suicidal. Get ahold of yourself.” And I’m like someone who’s lost her mind: “But I love him! I love him!” He’s sleeping, and I’m whispering: “I love you!” Walking in the hospital courtyard, “I love you.” Carrying his sanitary tray, “I love you. "
123 " We all live through it by ourselves, we don't know what else to do. I can't understand it with my mind. My mother especially has felt confused. She teaches Russian literature, and she always taught me to live with books. But there are no books about this. She became confused. She doesn't know how to do without books. Without Chekhov and Tolstoy. "
124 " Today, no one has time for feelings, they’re all out making money. The discovery of money hit us like an atom bomb… "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
125 " The mechanism of evil will work under conditions of apocalypse, also. That's what I understood. Man will gossip, and kiss up to the bosses, and save his television and ugly fur coat. And people will be the same until the end of time. Always. "
126 " Recordar es, sobre todo, un acto creativo. Al relatar, la gente crea, redacta, su vida. "
― Svetlana Alexievich , War's Unwomanly Face
127 " We’ll die, and then we’ll become science, "
128 " Today many people, especially the young, think it was only America that defeated Hitler. Little is known about the price the Soviet people paid for the victory—twenty million human lives in four years. "
129 " The soul will fly home of its own accord, but shipping a coffin is pretty expensive. "
130 " Well, I admit it. I had the greatest respect for the Afghan people, even while I was shooting and killing them. I still do. You could even say I love them. I like their songs and prayers, as peaceful and timeless as their mountains. "
― Svetlana Alexievich , Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War
131 " قالوا لنا يجب أن ننتصر، على من؟على الذرة، الفيزياء، الفضاء!!!!النصر عندنا ليس حدث، بل عملية مستمرة "
132 " ¿Cómo elegir entre el amor y la muerte? ¿Entre el pasado y el ignorado presente? ¿Y quién se creerá con derecho a echar en cara a otras esposas y madres que no se quedaran junto a sus maridos e hijos? Junto a esos elementos radiactivos. En su mundo se vio alterado incluso el amor. Hasta la muerte.Ha cambiado todo. Todo menos nosotros. "
133 " In five years, everything can change in Russia, but in two hundred—nothing. Boundless "
134 " Courage in war and courage of thought are two different courages. I used to think they were the same. "
135 " As my physics teacher always said, “My dear students! Just remember that money solves all problems, even differential equations. "
136 " The battle ended during the night. In the morning fresh snow fell. Under it the dead…Many had their arms raised up…toward the sky…You ask me: what is happiness? I answer…To suddenly find a living man among the dead… "
137 " My life has always been like a change jar. It’s full, then it’s empty, then it’s full again, then it’s empty again. "
138 " Los tiempos cambian, pero ¿y los humanos? "
139 " ¿Qué diferencia hay entre la muerte y el asesinato, dónde está la frontera entre lo humano y lo inhumano? "
140 " The doctors said that I got sick because my father worked at Chernobyl. And after that I was born. I love my father. "