The Books of Jacob
Olga Tokarczuk
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Asher Rubin thinks that most people are truly idiots, and that it is human stupidity that is ultimately responsible for introducing sadness into the world. It isn’t a sin or a trait with which human beings are born, but a false view of the world, a mistaken evaluation of what is seen by our eyes. Which is why people perceive every thing in isolation, each object separate from the rest. Real wisdom lies in linking everything together—that’s when the true shape of all of it emerges.”
“Then, however, Mayer thought it fitting to remind her of the most important thing: 'Between the heart and the tongue lies an abyss,' he said. "Remember that. Thoughts must be concealed, particularly since you were born, to your great misfortune, a woman. Think so that they think you are not thinking. Behave in such a way that you mislead others. We all must do this, but women more so. Talmudists know about the strength of women, but they fear it .... But we don't ... because we ourselves are like women. We survive by hiding. We play the fools, pretending to be people we are not. We come home, and then we take off our masks. But we bear the burden of silence: masa duma.”
“If people could read the same books, they would inhabit the same world.”
“Some people have a sense of unearthly things, just as others have an excellent sense of smell or hearing or taste. They can feel the subtle shifts in the great and complicated body of the world. And some of these have so honed that inner sight that they can even tell where a holy spark has fallen, notice its glow in the very place you would least expect it. The worse the place, the more fervently the spark gleams, flickers— and the warmer and purer is its light.”
“Jacob has begun to introduce himself not as before, not as Yankiele Leybowicz, but as Jacob Frank. Frank is what Jews from the west are called in Nikopol; that’s what they call his father-in-law and his wife, Hana. Frank, or Frenk, means foreign. Nahman knows Jacob likes this – being foreign is a quality of those who have frequently changed their place of residence. He’s told Nahman that he feels best in new places, because it is as if the world begins afresh every time. To be foreign is to be free.”
“A thing that is not talked about ceases to exist.”
“most people are truly idiots, and that it is human stupidity that is ultimately responsible for introducing sadness into the world.”
“creating big, bold letters; he draws visible pleasure from the flourishes with which he embellishes especially the letters J and S. They want a big public Disputation,”
“What is life, after all if not dancing on graves?”
“Those of us who think God addresses us by means of external events are wrong, as naive as children. For he whispers directly into our innermost souls.”
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Book Keywords:
interconnections, masks, wisdom, power-of-words, concealed, correspondences, stupidity, isolation, mislead
