Jose Bergamin Quotes

“A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. -Jose Bergamin, author (1895-1983)”

“The novel is born of disillusionment; the poem, of despair.”

“To be ready to fail is to be prepared for success.”

“To sin offers repentance and forgiveness not to sin offers only punishment. ”

“To light one candle to God and another to the Devil is the principle of wisdom.”

“A German immersed in any civilization different from his own loses a weight equivalent in volume to the amount of intelligence he displaces.”

“Happiness is always a coincidence.”

“We arrived and the miracle happened.It was the sea and the wind in the bells.We came from far, from years Thirsty as dust, from humble fishermen’s nets on barren shore."~ José Manuel Cardona, from Poems to Circe, The Birnam Wood (El Bosque de Birnam, Consell Insular D'Eivissa, 2007).Translated from the Spanish by Helene Cardona.”

“There are people like Senhor José everywhere, who fill their time, or what they believe to be their spare time, by collecting stamps, coins, medals, vases, postcards, matchboxes, books, clocks, sport shirts, autographs, stones, clay figurines, empty beverage cans, little angels, cacti, opera programmes, lighters, pens, owls, music boxes, bottles, bonsai trees, paintings, mugs, pipes, glass obelisks, ceramic ducks, old toys, carnival masks, and they probably do so out of something that we might call metaphysical angst, perhaps because they cannot bear the idea of chaos being the one ruler of the universe, which is why, using their limited powers and with no divine help, they attempt to impose some order on the world, and for a short while they manage it, but only as long as they are there to defend their collection, because when the day comes when it must be dispersed, and that day always comes, either with their death or when the collector grows weary, everything goes back to its beginnings, everything returns to chaos.”

“‎"The greatest discovery you'll ever make, is the potential of your own mind.”