Memoirs of a GeishaChairman: "We must not expect happiness, Sayuri. It is not something we deserve. When life goes well, it is a sudden gift; it cannot last forever..."
"She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings. She entertains you, whatever you want. The rest is shadows, the rest is secret."
"You cannot say to the sun, "More sun." Or to the rain, "Less rain." To a man, geisha can only be half a wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet, to learn kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find her prayers were answered, can that not be called happiness? After all these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind."
"The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves. Until one day there are none."
The InterpreterSilvia Broome: "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief. "
Tobin Keller: How do you feel about him?
Silvia Broome: I don't care for him.
Tobin Keller: Wouldn't mind if he were dead?
Silvia Broome: I wouldn't mind if he were gone.
Tobin Keller: Same thing.
Silvia Broome: No it isn't. If I interpreted gone as dead, I'd be out of a job. If dead and gone were the same thing, there'd be no UN.
Tobin Keller: Your profession is playing with words Ms. Broome.
Silvia Broome: I don't play with words.
Tobin Keller: You're doing it right now.
Silvia Broome: No, you are. If I wanted him dead, I wouldn't have reported it. I would sat back and let it happen. That's not what I want, that's not why I'm here.
Tobin Keller: "You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth."
Zuwanie: [Reading from the dedication of a book he wrote decades earlier]
"The gunfire around us makes it hard to hear, but the human voice is different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury everything else. Even when it's not shouting. Even when it's just a whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies when it's telling the truth."
Nirgendwo in AfrikaJettel Redlich: "Tolerance doesn't mean that everyone is the same. That'd be stupid. What I've learned here is how valuable differences are. Differences are good. And intelligent people will never hold it against you."
Stupeur et Tremblements
"Moi, quand j'étais petite, je voulais devenir Dieu. Le Dieu des chrétiens avec un grand D. Vers l'âge de 5 ans, j'ai compris que mon ambition était irréalisable. Alors, j'ai mis un peu d'eau dans mon vin et j'ai décidé de devenir le Christ. J'imaginais ma mort sur la croix devant l'humanité entière. A l'âge de 7 ans, j'ai pris conscience que cela ne m'arriverait pas. J'ai résolu, plus modestement, de devenir martyre."
"Il fallait que je lui donne accès au paroxysme de l'extase. Dans l'ancien protocole impérial nippon, il est stipulé que l'on s'adressera à l'Empereur avec " stupeur et tremblements ". J'ai toujours adoré cette formule qui correspond si bien au jeu des acteurs dans les films de samouraïs quand ils s'adressent à leur chef, la voix traumatisée par un respect surhumain. Je pris donc le masque de la stupeur et je commençai à trembler. Je plongeai un regard plein d'effroi dans celui de la jeune femme et je bégayai :
- Croyez-vous que l'on voudra de moi au ramassage des ordures ?
- Oui ! dit-elle avec un peu trop d'enthousiasme. "
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Verlaine: "Et je m'en vais au vent mauvais qui m'emporte deçà, delà, pareil à la feuille morte." (Chanson d'automne)
... more to come!
