Jane Smiley
"The body, the mind, and the spirit don't form a pyramid, they form a circle. Each of them runs into the other two. The body isn't below the mind and the spirit; from the point of view it's between them. if you reside too much in the mind, then you get too abstract and cut off from the world. You long for the spiritual life, but you can't get to it, and you fall into despair. The exercise of the senses frees you from abstraction and opens the way to transcendence."
22 Quotes
"The body, the mind, and the spirit don't form a pyramid, they form a circle. Each of them runs into the other two. The body isn't below the mind and the spirit; from the point of view it's between them. if you reside too much in the mind, then you get too abstract and cut off from the world. You long for the spiritual life, but you can't get to it, and you fall into despair. The exercise of the senses frees you from abstraction and opens the way to transcendence."
"الجسد والعقل والروح لا تشكل هرمًا، بل دائرة. كل منها يتدفق إلى الآخرين. الجسد ليس أدنى من العقل والروح؛ بل هو من وجهة نظرٍ بينهما. إذا أفرطت في الإقامة بالعقل، أصبحت شديد التجريد ومنقطعًا عن العالم. تتوق إلى الحياة الروحية، لكنك لا تستطيع بلوغها، فتقع في اليأس. إن تمرين الحواس يحررك من التجريد ويفتح لك السبيل إلى التجاوز."
Jane Smiley
Moo
"In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it."
"من واقع خبرتي، لا يوجد دافع سوى الرغبة. فلا الأسباب ولا المبادئ تحويها أو تقف في وجهها."
Jane Smiley
"If to live is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various stages of your foolishness."
"إذا كانت الحياة مسيرة تقدم، تنتقل فيها، إن حالفك الح"
Jane Smiley
"I discovered that the horse is life itself, a metaphor but also an example of life's mystery and unpredictability, of life's generosity and beauty, a worthy object of repeated and ever changing contemplation."
"اكتشفت أن الحصان هو الحياة ذاتها، مجازٌ ومثالٌ في آنٍ واحد على غموض الحياة وتقلباتها، وعلى سخائها وجمالها، موضوعٌ جديرٌ بالتأمل المتكرر والمتجدد أبدًا."
Jane Smiley
"When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to the first page of the book and experience them all over again, perhaps more intensely."
"عندما تبلغ الرواية مائتي ألف كلمة، فمن الممكن للقارئ أن يختبر مائتي ألف بهجة، وأن يعود إلى الصفحة الأولى من الكتاب ليختبرها كلها من جديد، وربما بشدة أكبر."
Jane Smiley
"I loved the house the way you would any new house, because it is populated by your future, the family of children who will fill it with noise or chaos and satisfying busy pleasures."
"أحببتُ المنزل كما تُحبّ أيّ بيتٍ جديد، لأنه مأهولٌ بمستقبلك، بعائلة الأطفال الذين سيملؤونه ضجيجاً أو فوضى، وبمسراتٍ مُرضيةٍ من الانشغال."
Jane Smiley
"The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister, in-laws, and darling nephews."
"أشقائي الوحيدون هم إخوة غير أشقاء. كانت عائلتي النواة لتكون ثلاثية خانقة للغاية. عوضاً عن ذلك، لدي أخ وأخت مثيران للاهتمام، وأصهار، وأبناء إخوة وأخوات أحباء."
Jane Smiley
"English majors understand human nature better than economists do."
"أهل الأدب أدرى بطبائع البشر من أهل الاقتصاد."
Jane Smiley
"There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United States and in other countries, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one of his most famous buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was completed just before his death. Wright buildings look like Wright buildings - that is their paradox."
"تنتشر مئات من مباني فرانك لويد رايت في أنحاء الولايات المتحدة وبلدان أخرى. عاش رايت حتى بلغ التسعينات من عمره، وقد اكتمل أحد أشهر أعماله، متحف غوغنهايم في نيويورك، قبيل وفاته. تبدو مباني رايت كمباني رايت – وهذا هو مفارقتها."
Jane Smiley
"People with good intentions never give up!"
"أصحاب النوايا الطيبة لا يستسلمون أبدًا!"
Jane Smiley
"In my experience there is only one motivation and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it."
"في تجربتي، لا يوجد دافع سوى الرغبة. لا الأسباب ولا المبادئ تحويه أو تقف في وجهه."
Jane Smiley
"Twenty-five, he was. Twenty-five tomorrow. Some years the snow had melted for his birthday, but not this year, and so it had been a long winter full of cows."
"كان في الخامسة والعشرين من عمره. سيتمها غدًا. في بعض السنوات، كان الثلج يذوب في عيد ميلاده، لكن ليس هذا العام، وهكذا كان شتاءً طويلاً مليئًا بالأبقار."
Jane Smiley
"You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of hopes and ideas, feeling good, looking good, wildly interested in you because you're the same way, and sticking by him while he slowly disintegrates. And he does the same for you. You're his responsibility now and he's yours. If no one else will take care of him, you will. If everyone else rejects you, he won't. What do you think love is? Going to bed all the time?"
"أتعلمين ما هو الزواج؟
إنه الموافقة على أن تأخذي هذا الشخص الذي هو الآن في أوج حيويته، مفعم بالآمال والأفكار، يشعر بالرضا ويبدو في أبهى حلة، شديد الاهتمام بكِ لأنكِ تشاركينه نفس الروح، ثم تلتزمي بالبقاء إلى جانبه بينما يتلاشى ببطء. وهو يفعل المثل لأجلكِ. أنتِ مسؤوليته الآن وهو مسؤوليتكِ. إن تخلى عنه الجميع، فلن تتخلي عنه أنتِ. وإن رفضكِ العالم كله، فلن يرفضكِ هو. ما الذي تظنينه الحب؟ هل هو مجرد الفراش؟"
Jane Smiley
"A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system."
"إن الطفل الذي يُحاط بسياج منيع عن كل فكرة خلافية، لا يختلف في هشاشته عن الطفل الذي يُصان من كل جرثومة. فالعدوى، حين تباغت - وهي حتمًا آتية - قد تُربك النظام برمّته، سواء كان ذلك الجهاز المناعي أو منظومة الاعتقاد."
Jane Smiley
"Upstairs, in the cupboard, he had a box of things he had saved as a boy and a young man. He hadn't looked into it in twenty years or more. Nothing fancy or valuable, but things that had meant something to him at one time. He found it, and found the key, and carried it downstairs without opening it."
Jane Smiley
"There were no toys under the bed--that wasn't why he liked it. Why he liked it was that there wasn't anything under the bed--no chickens, no Joey, no Eloise, no sheep, no "no"s. He could lie under the bed and not be told anything at all"
Jane Smiley
"There were no toys under the bed--that wasn't why he liked it. Why he liked it was that there wasn't anything under the bed--no chickens, no Joey, no Eloise, no sheep, no "no"s. He could lie under the bed and not be told anything at all."
Jane Smiley
"In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it."
Jane Smiley
"Every spot on earth is particular, detailed, and incomprehensibly complex."
Jane Smiley
"So all I have is the knowledge that I saw! That I saw without being afraid and without turning away, and that I didn't forgive the unforgivable. Forgiveness is a reflex for when you can't stand what you know. I resisted that reflex. That's my sole, solitary, lonely accomplishment."
Jane Smiley
✉️
Get more quotes like Jane Smiley's — every morning.
Join thousands of wisdom seekers getting daily quotes from 300,000+ curated sources.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
🎉 Check your inbox to confirm your subscription!