Bu devir, sıradan insanın en parlak zamanı; duygusuzluğun, bilgisizliğin, tembelliğin, yeteneksizliğin, hazıra konmak isteyen bir kuşağın devridir. Kimse bir şeyin üzerinde durup düşünmüyor. Kendisine bir ülkü edinen çok az. Umutlu birisi çıkıp iki ağaç dikse herkes gülüyor: "Yahu bu ağaç büyüyünceye kadar yaşayacak mısın sen?" Öte yanda iyilik isteyenler, insanlığın bin yıl sonraki geleceğini kendilerine dert ediniyorlar. İnsanları birbirine bağlayan ülkü tümden yitti, kayıplara karıştı. Herkes, yarın sabah çekip gidecekleri bir handaymış gibi yaşıyor. Herkes kendini düşünüyor. kendisi kapabileceği kadar kapsın, geride kalanlar isterse açlıktan, soğuktan ölsün, vız geliyor...
Who could say that human nature can endure such a trial without slipping into madness? Why this ghastly, needless outrage? Perhaps there is a man to whom the death sentence was read and who was allowed to suffer and then told, ‘Go, You are pardoned.’ Perhaps such a man could tell us something. This was the agony and the horror of which Christ told too. No, you cannot treat a man like that.…Think! When there is torture there is pain and wounds, physical agony, and all this distracts the mind from mental suffering, so that one is tormented only by the wounds until the moment of death. But the most terrible agony many not be in the wounds themselves but in knowing for certain that within an hour, then within ten minutes, then within half a minute, now at this very instant – your soul will leave your body and you will no longer be a person, and that is certain; the worst thing is that it is certain.
Is it true, prince, that you once declared that "beauty would save the world"? Great Heaven! The prince says that beauty saves the world! And I declare that he only has such playful ideas because he's in love! Gentlemen, the prince is in love. I guessed it the moment he came in. Don't blush, prince; you make me sorry for you. What beauty saves the world? Colia told me that you are a zealous Christian; is it so? Colia says you call yourself a Christian.'The prince regarded him attentively, but said nothing.
In my view, Roman Catholicism is not even a faith, but is decidedly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, and in it everything, beginning with faith, is subordinated to that idea. The Pope seized the earth, an earthly throne, and took up the sword; ever since then it has all gone like that, except that to the sword they’ve added lies, slyness, deception, fanaticism, superstition and evil-doing, and played with the people’s most sacred, truthful, simple, fiery emotions, exchanging everything, everything for money, for base, earthly power. And isn’t that the teaching of the Antichrist?
He entered a confectioner's shop to rest, once. He was in a state of nervous excitement and perturbation; he noticed nothing and no one; and he felt a craving for solitude, to be alone with his thoughts and his emotions, and to give himself up to them passively. He loathed the idea of trying to answer the questions that would rise up in his heart and mind. "I am not to blame for all this," he thought to himself, half unconsciously.
أنا أري أن قتل إنسان بسبب ارتكابه جريمة قتل هو قصاص لا تناسب بينه وبين الجريمة نفسها. إن قتل قاتل أفظع كثيرا من جريمة القتل التي ارتكبها ذلك القاتل. إن الإنسان الذي يقتله القتلة،إذ يذبحونه ليلا في غابة أو غيرها، يظل إلي أخر لحظة يأمل أن ينجو. يروي الناس عن مقتولين أنهم ظلوا،بعد حز رقابهم،يأملون ويحاولون الفرار ويتضرعون سائلين الشفقة عليهم والرأفة بهم. أما في الإعدام فإن الأمل الأخير، الأمل الذي يجعل احتمال الموت أسهل عشر مرات ينترع منك "حتما". إن صدور الحكم واستحالة الإفلا منه هما اللذان يجعلان العذاب رهيبا فظيعا
أنا أري أن قتل إنسان بسبب ارتكابه جريمة قتل هو قصاص لا تناسب بينه وبين الجريمة نفسها. إن قتل قاتل أفظع كثيرا من جريمة القتل التي ارتكبها ذلك القاتل. إن الإنسان الذي يقتله القتلة،إذ يذبحونه ليلا في غابة أو غيرها، يظل إلي أخر لحظة يأمل أن ينجو. يروي الناس عن مقتولين أنهم ظلوا،بعد حز رقابهم، يأملون ويحاولون الفرار ويتضرعون سائلين الشفقة عليهم والرأفةبهم. أما في الإعدام فإن الأمل الأخير، الأمل الذي يجعل احتمال الموت أسهل عشر مرات ينترع منك "حتما". إن صدور الحكم واستحالة الإفلات منه هما اللذان يجعلان العذاب رهيبا فظيعا
Mas, não obstante, eu acrescento que em qualquer pensamento genial ou no novo pensamento humano, ou simplesmente até em qualquer pensamento humano sério, que medra da cabeça de alguém, sempre resta algo que de maneira nenhuma se pode transmitir a outras pessoas, embora voc6e tenha garatujado volumes inteiros e passado trinta e cinco anos interpretando o seu pensamento; sempre restará algo que de maneira alguma desejará sair do seu crânio e permanecerá com você para todo o sempre; e assim você acaba morrendo sem ter transmitido a ninguém talvez o mais importante da sua idéia.