Svetlana Alexievich
Journalist
1948-05-31
Quotes by Svetlana Alexievich
-
Show me a fantasy novel about Chernobyl--there isn't one! Because reality is more fantastic.
Read quote -
When I see a garden in flower, then I believe in God for a second. But not the rest of the time
Read quote -
Pretty soon, I'll be decomposing into phosphorous, calcium, and so on. Who else will you find to tell you the truth? All that's left are the archives. Pieces of paper. And the truth is... I worked at an archive myself, I can tell you first hand: paper lies even more than people do.
Read quote -
The mysterious Russian soul... Everyone wants to understand it. They read Dostoevsky: what's behind that soul of theirs? Well, behind our soul there's just more soul.
Read quote -
I'm afraid of freedom, it feels like some drunk guy could show up and burn my dacha at any moment.
Read quote -
How were you taken prisoner?' The interrogator asked my father. 'The Finns pulled me out of a lake.' 'You traitor! You were saving your own skin instead of the Motherland.' My father also considered himself guilty. That's how they'd been trained.
Read quote -
Is there anything more frightening than people?
Read quote -
Death is the fairest thing in the world. No one's ever gotten out of it. The earth takes everyone - the kind, the cruel, the sinners. Aside from that, there's no fairness on earth.
Read quote -
Death is the fairest thing in the world. No one's ever gotten out of it. The earth takes everyone - the kind, the cruel, the sinners. Aside from that, there's no fairness on earth.
Read quote -
Is there anything more frightening than people?
Read quote -
Pretty soon, I'll be decomposing into phosphorous, calcium, and so on. Who else will you find to tell you the truth? All that's left are the archives. Pieces of paper. And the truth is... I worked at an archive myself, I can tell you first hand: paper lies even more than people do.
Read quote -
How were you taken prisoner?' The interrogator asked my father. 'The Finns pulled me out of a lake.' 'You traitor! You were saving your own skin instead of the Motherland.' My father also considered himself guilty. That's how they'd been trained.
Read quote -
Show me a fantasy novel about Chernobyl--there isn't one! Because reality is more fantastic.
Read quote -
The mysterious Russian soul... Everyone wants to understand it. They read Dostoevsky: what's behind that soul of theirs? Well, behind our soul there's just more soul.
Read quote -
When I see a garden in flower, then I believe in God for a second. But not the rest of the time
Read quote -
I'm afraid of freedom, it feels like some drunk guy could show up and burn my dacha at any moment.
Read quote -
Women are the most denigrated social group in the Soviet Union. The idea of women's emancipation is only a slogan in - but also, I should say, in many places outside - the Soviet Union. But especially in the militaristic Soviet society, people only thought of life in terms of struggle and the workers' toil.
Read quote -
A totalitarian power is mainly busy in keeping itself alive.
Read quote -
Flaubert called himself a human pen; I would say that I am a human ear. When I walk down the street and catch words, phrases, and exclamations, I always think - how many novels disappear without a trace! Disappear into darkness.
Read quote -
My Ukrainian grandmother would tell amazing stories. She lost her father, and as children, we would always listen to her stories.
Read quote