255 Quotes by Svetlana Alexievich

I asked everyone I met what 'freedom' meant. Fathers and children had very different answers. Those who were born in the USSR and those born after its collapse do not share a common experience - it's like they're from different planets. For the fathers, freedom is the absence of fear;[...] For the children: freedom is love; inner freedom is an absolute value. Freedom is when you're not afraid of your own desires;

Atârnați tăblițe deasupra mormintelor, ciopliți în piatră că totul a fost degeaba! Spuneți-le asta și morților!...

I remembered some lines from the papers: our nuclear stations are absolutely safe, we could build one on Red Square, they're safer than samovars. They're like stars and we'll "light" the whole earth with them.

Los hombres nunca están a la altura de los grandes acontecimientos. Siempre les superan los hechos.

At that time my notions of nuclear power were utterly idyllic. At school and at the university we'd been taught that this was a magical factory that made "energy out of nothing," where people in white robes sat and pushed buttons. Chernobyl blew up when we weren't prepared.

Me gustaría escribir un libro sobre un hombre que no dispara, un hombre incapaz de disparar a otro ser humano, un hombre a quien el mero pensamiento de la guerra le causara dolor. ¿Dónde está ese hombre? No lo he encontrado.

Fino a quando continueremo a porre sempre questa nostra eterna domanda: di chi è la colpa? Vostra, tua, loro? Il problema è un altro. Ѐ nella scelta che dipende da ciascuno di noi: sparare o non sparare, tacere o non tacere, andarci o non andarci... Bisogna interrogare se stessi su ogni questione... Ma ci manca quest'abitudine a rientrare in noi stessi, a tornare nel nostro profondo.

¿Ahora le permiten escribir sobre estas cosas? Antes estaba prohibido...

When I see a garden in flower, then I believe in God for a second. But not the rest of the time