15 Quotes by Sy Safransky

Every revolution evaporates,” said Kafka, “leaving behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” This is true not only of governments, but of individuals: the moment of realization, of inspiration, becomes institutionalized, trivialized.

The bed becomes your church; you pass the collection plate back and forth until you’ve given too much, then your poverty becomes your gift... And though, in days or months or years to come, you’ll swear you were fooling yourself, you weren’t; it really happened... above you for a moment hovered the dove.

For what are most of our stories but cartoon versions of the past? Our personal history is the well-worn version of ourselves we’ve settled for, in which we come across as pitiful stick figures, “bored to death with ourselves and with the world,” as don Juan said.

How mysteriously alone we are! How tempting to imagine that if we’re loved, our loneliness will be dispelled.

The comment is abrupt, uncalled for, yet clearly important for him to get across, a way of naming himself, turning out his pockets, the way others let on in a hurry that they know Christ, or where to get cocaine.

It was easy to see that I was recreating my painful history every time I talked about it.

My deepest gratitude goes to those we’ve quoted – men and women who labored long and hard to express in a few words a lifetime of experience; others who rarely wrote but paused in the middle of a busy life or a sleepless night with pen in hand, who wept and found a way to make of their suffering a gift, who laughed and found a way to make us laugh, too.

We forget what missiles our words are, how much damage we can cause with one thoughtless comment between the coffee and the toast.

We’re an odd match. Imagine Ronald Reagan and Jesse Jackson; imagine night and day. George has built nuclear reactors and believes in them fiercely. We stay away from this and other subjects the way I’d stay away from Three Mile Island. After all, I have plenty of friends who share my most impassioned opinions; we can have an orgy of agreement any day at the natural foods restaurant, over a sprout sandwich. But he’s the one out here helping.