The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant systematic duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. Our nervous system isn't just a fiction; it's a part of our physical body, and our soul exists in space and is inside us, like the teeth in our mouth. It can't be forever violated with impunity.
— Boris Pasternak
I've collected quotations for 40 years, and this was one of the 10 quotes from Doctor Zhivago I jotted down while reading Pasternak's magnificent novel in my late teens/early twenties. Truly one of the greatest novels ever.
ReplyDeleteThree other favourite quotations from the book are these:
"He realised, more vividly than ever before, that art has two constant, two unending preoccupations: it is always meditating upon death and it is always thereby creating life."
"Men who are not free . . . always idealise their bondage."
"I have an indescribable, passionate desire to live, and living of course means struggling, going further, higher, striving for perfection and achieving it."
This quote sticks like a sharp needle in my heart, demanding that I ask and answer questions I would probably rather avoid. The additional quotes provided by Robert also resonate with me.
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