The Prague Cemetery Quotes
"Who am I? Perhaps it is better to ask me about my passions, rather than what I've done in my life."
"They say that the soul is simply what a person does. But if I hate someone and I cultivate this grudge, then, by God, that means there is something inside!"
"But why philosophize instead of piecing together events? Perhaps because I need to know not only what I did before yesterday, but also what I'm like inside."
"I have always found more pleasure in food than in sex, perhaps a mark left upon me by priests."
"They don't understand that a salivating mouth is better than an erection."
"Civilization will never reach perfection until the last stone of the last church has fallen on the last priest, and the earth is rid of that evil lot."
"People are never so completely and enthusiastically evil as when they act out of religious conviction."
"It takes a little time, but the pleasures of cooking begin before the pleasures of the palate, and preparing means anticipating."
"Listening doesn't mean trying to understand. Anything, however trifling, may be of use one day. What matters is to know something that others don't know you know."
"What, no leeks today?" Bourru asked one day, irritated. And Burot, scandalized: "No leeks?"
"In the past it was regarded as an exclusively female phenomenon caused by disturbances in uterine function, but Charcot has formed the view that hysterical manifestations are to be found equally in both sexes."
"The problem is that in many patients the passage from one personality to another occurs spontaneously, without our being able to predict how and when."
"Memory disturbance may be caused by a reduction in blood flow to a still unknown part of the brain, and the momentary constriction of the vessels could be provoked by a state of hysteria."
"I have been writing for hours, my thumb is aching, and I have eaten at my desk, spreading pâté and butter on bread, with a few glasses of Château Latour to stimulate the memory."
"Childhood for me was my grandfather, more than my father and mother. I hated my mother who had gone without telling me, I hated my father who had done nothing to stop her, I hated God because he had willed such a thing to happen, and I hated my grandfather because he thought it normal for God to will such things."
"Our fathers were poorer and happier because they remained in touch with nature. The modern world has given us steam, which poisons the countryside, and mechanical looms, which have taken work from so many wretched souls and don't produce fabrics as they once did."
"The modern sophists, the Freemasons, the Jacobins, the Illuminati? The Jews, therefore, with all the other sectaries, are but a single faction seeking to destroy the name of Christ wherever possible."
"What is more, when Napoleon decided to meet representatives of the Grand Sanhedrin to obtain their support for his ambitions, certain threats from the French Jews of the time must have had an effect — and someone must have informed the abbé that it was better not to stir up trouble."
"You should know that Barruel was educated by the Jesuits until Louis XV drove them out of France, and then took orders as a lay priest, except that he became a Jesuit once again when Pius VII restored full rights to the order."
"So there it is, my dear Simonino. I am old, it is not for me to be the lone voice in the wilderness."
"They are an accursed race, and their Talmud says — as anyone who can read it will confirm — that the Jews must curse the Christians three times a day and ask God that they be exterminated and destroyed."
"If you don't behave yourself and go straight to sleep, the horrible Mordechai will come visit you tonight."
"They disguise themselves, they disguise themselves, pass us in the street without us even realizing."
"Never trust Jesuits. Do you know what one holy priest has written? It is Jesuitism that undermines, torments, afflicts, vilifies, persecutes, destroys men of free spirit."
"The beauty of the body is only skin deep. If men could only see what is beneath the flesh, they would be nauseated just to look at women."
"True freedom is man's right to follow the law of God, to be worthy of heaven or hell."
"People believe only what they already know, and this is the beauty of the Universal Form of Conspiracy."
"What I produce are not forgeries but new copies of genuine documents that have been lost or, by simple oversight, have never been produced, and that could and should have been produced."
"I always trust my clients, because I serve only honorable people."
"If I had to start worrying whether the client might be lying, I would no longer be in this profession, which is based on trust."
"The notary had given him a job, and Simone had been his slave for several years; the notary had ruined his grandfather, and Simone had ruined him."
"Fanatics are the scum of the earth, because it's through them, and the vague principles they espouse, that wars and revolutions happen."
"As for those boys, they were fanatics, and fanatics are the scum of the earth, because it's through them, and the vague principles they espouse, that wars and revolutions happen."
"Policies are often decided by us humble servants of the state rather than by those who, in the eyes of the people, govern."
"With his fair beard and blue eyes, he seems like Jesus in Leonardo's Last Supper."
"His movements are full of elegance, his voice has an infinite gentleness."
"He seems an even-tempered man, but when the words 'Italy' and 'independence' are uttered, you will see him stir like a volcano."
"Wars are the most effective and natural way imaginable for stemming the increase in human numbers."
"It's vital to have men like Nievo, Abba, and Bandi who want to throw themselves in the line of fire."
"And most people smell. There isn't sufficient food. Just imagine if there were any more of us."
"I have heard it said that over a billion people inhabit this earth. I don't know how anyone could count them, but from one look around Palermo, it's quite clear that there are too many of us and that we're already stepping on each other's toes."
"That's how I am, and how I'm condemned to remain. I will always be a moody, dark, somber, irritable individual. I'm now thirty and have always fought wars to distract me from a world I do not love."
"It makes you want to give up, but it's exactly at moments like this that we mustn't abandon the helm."
"If you had a piece of paper and put the powder on it and ignited it, it would burn without touching the paper."
"What a man," said Nievo. And he cried, as poets do (which greatly irritated Simonini).
"But it's exactly at moments like this that we mustn't abandon the helm."
"You could use a very recent discovery, apparently developed by the Americans. It's called a coal torpedo, a bomb that looks like a lump of coal."
"My dearest friend," said Nievo, "you've been my companion for so long, I've bared my soul to you."
"The only way of controlling a subversive sect is by taking over its command, or at least having its ringleaders in our pay."
"These earnings were obviously never secure, and my dream was to make 10,000 francs, not as earned but as unearned income."
"What a place." Simonini laughed. "I'll be there. But tell me, I've heard there's a certain Joly here who's written malicious things about the emperor."
"To imagine that we are a necessary part of the order of the universe is, for well-read people like us, the same as superstition is for uncultured people."
"People with few ideas are less likely to make mistakes; they follow what everyone else does and are no trouble to anyone; they're successful, make money, find good jobs, enter politics, receive honors; they become famous writers, academics, journalists."
"Tyranny, you understand, has been achieved thanks to universal suffrage!"
"Prisons are there to ensure that a gentleman can go to a restaurant without coming to any harm."
"You don't deal with spies by killing them but by passing them false information."
"Who says Gougenot does? To hate someone, you don't have to speak his language."
"If you only knew how many priests are Masons..."
"What secret makes them stronger than us even when they seem weaker?"
"Our forefathers ordained that the elders of Israel should gather together once each century around the tomb of our blessed rabbi, Simeon ben Yehuda."
"All reigning emperors, kings, and princes are overwhelmed by debts they have incurred with us to maintain their armies and shore up their tottering thrones."
"If gold is the first power in this world, the second is the press."
"Let us spread the idea of progress, which leads to equality for all religions."
"Who then are you? Because I recall, at this very moment, having killed you back before the war!"
"Perhaps I should have taken Gougenot's book more seriously."
"It's better to punish first, before any crimes are committed."
"A doctor is privy to a family's most intimate secrets and is responsible for a Christian's life and health."
"Let us appear to be concerned about social questions of current interest."
"It is absurd to imagine that in Italy the return to bygone beauty could be represented by your bowlegged Garibaldi, your short-legged king, and that dwarf Cavour."
"Reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord means taking responsibility for them. Sin can be a mystical burden, and the heavier the better, so we can relieve that load of iniquities the devil exacts from humanity."
"Words cannot describe the magical effect of that great glow flaring out into the surrounding shadows."
"Electric light... During those years, some were stupid enough to feel excited about the future."
"The only interesting invention in recent times has been a porcelain contraption that enables you to defecate while seated."
"Revolution isn't proclaimed by decree, it is born from the womb of the people."
"Organizing a revolution requires men with good military training. But such people don't get involved, and stay on the side with the power."
"They looked as if they had been taken at random and shot just to set an example, and had been lined up on the pavement to clear the street for a platoon of government soldiers who were passing at that very moment."
"Changes certainly were under way in the secret service."
"In times when good food and wine were scarce, it was easy to renew acquaintance with people I'd met at some tapis-francs and take them to a more reputable tavern where I could offer them chicken and the finest wine."
"The execution of the archbishop marked the point of no return. There had to be a complete bloodbath for things to return to normal."
"didn't you know we Jesuits are always one step ahead of the devil?"
"These Jesuits were cleverer than Hébuterne, Lagrange, and Saint Front."
"If there was a climate of restoration, it was therefore just as important to work as a good restorer."
"The empire put me on trial for incitement to hatred, contempt of the government, and insulting the emperor, but Caesar's judges allowed me to speak."
"Life becomes a burden that inevitably ends in suicide."
"Paris seems deserted. Look at the passersby... They move like ghosts."
"I love peace. I would like a world ruled by moderation, where the word 'violence' no longer has any meaning."
"Man's principal trait is a readiness to believe anything. Otherwise, how could the Church have survived for almost two thousand years in the absence of universal gullibility?"
"All you have to do is tickle his fancy for spreading false information, and let him imagine himself on the front page, and he'll change his allegiance."
"A sincere conversion ought to be made freely, ad majorem Dei gloriam."
"If you accuse a man of murder, you might be believed, but if you accuse him of eating children for lunch and dinner like Gilles de Rais, no one will take you seriously."
"Come, Satan, come, thou the calumniated of priests and kings!"
"A mystic is a hysteric who has met her confessor before her doctor."
"The fear of God and reverence for divine laws taken away, revolution and universal subversion will necessarily follow."
"But such contrivances were only for rich people, and our readers were unlikely to know anything about them."
"One of the problems we had was describing General Pike, the Grand Master of Universal Freemasonry, who directed the destiny of the world from Charleston."
"Black magic was performed by the followers of Adonai, the evil God worshiped by Christians."
"For some people Lucifer is the fallen angel who has now repented and could become the future messiah."
"Ah," he said, "in this universe of occult sciences the boundaries between good and bad are extremely subtle, and what is good for one person is bad for others."
"Our timing was excellent. It was more or less during that period that newspapers began to use a fine expression: anti-Semitism."
"Hatred has to be cultivated as a civic passion."