Zitate von Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

„In der Kunst schweigt der Mensch und das Bild spricht; und es wird ganz klar, daß nur das Bild den Leistungen der Natur ebenbürtig sein kann.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

Über Kunst und Leben. Aphorismen

„Das Leben übersteigt unendlich alle Theorien, die man in Bezug auf das Leben zu bilden vermag.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

Über Kunst und Leben
Über Kunst und Leben. Aphorismen

„Eure Lehrmeister treiben Schindluder mit Sprichwörtern, aber den wichtigsten Spruch haben sie vergessen: ›Mit Gewalt erreicht man keine Liebe.‹“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Doktor Schiwago, S. 400 f.
Doktor Schiwago

„Kunst. Sie interessiert sich nicht für den Menschen, sondern für das Bild des Menschen. Das Bild des Menschen ist, wie sich erweist, größer als der Mensch.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

Geleitbrief (1958, deutsch von Gisela Drohla, Original: Ochrannaja gramota 1931), hier nach Bauch 1976, S. 103 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=Pxx8sHHy_9wC&pg=PA303&dq=Pasternak; vgl. Heinrich Böll, S. 525 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=MAUsAQAAIAAJ&q=geleitbrief
Quelle: Das Grosse Handbuch der Zitate", Herausgegeben von Hans-Horst Skupy, Edition Bassermann, Gütersloh/München, 1993, ISBN 3-8094-5014-6, Seite 545

„Niemals und unter keinen Bedingungen dürfen wir verzweifeln. Zu hoffen und zu handeln, das ist unsere Pflicht im Unglück. Tatenlose Verzweiflung bedeutet so viel wie die Pflicht vergessen und sich ihr entziehen.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Doktor Schiwago, S. 585
Doktor Schiwago

„Ihre Figur verjüngte sich einigermaßen unproportioniert nach oben, wodurch sie Ähnlichkeit mit einer Bruthenne bekam.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

„Leben bedeutet immer: dem Höheren, der Vollkommenheit entgegenstreben, sich emporschwingen und versuchen, den Gipfel zu erreichen.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Doktor Schiwago, S. 568
Doktor Schiwago

„In der Kunst schweigt der Mensch, und das Bild spricht.“

—  Boris Leonidowitsch Pasternak

zitiert nach: "Das Grosse Handbuch der Zitate", Herausgegeben von Hans-Horst Skupy, Edition Bassermann, Gütersloh/München, 1993, ISBN 3-8094-5014-6, Seite 545

„You are eternity's hostage
A captive of time.“

—  Borís Pasternak

Poem "Night" (Ночь), from When the Weather Clears (Kogda razgulyaetsya, 1957) — as quoted in One Less Hope: Essays on Twentieth-century Russian Poets (2006) by Constantin V. Ponomareff, p. 130
Kontext: Don't sleep, don't sleep, artist,
Don't give in to sleep.
You are eternity's hostage
A captive of time.

„Only individuals seek the truth.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Kontext: Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Solovyov or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth.

„I don't think I could love you so much if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and of little value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Quelle: Doctor Zhivago

„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.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

As quoted in "Boris Pasternak" in I.F. Stone's Weekly (3 November 1958), § "Words Which Apply to Us As Well As Russia"; later in The Best of I.F. Stone (2006), p. 43
Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Kontext: The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant 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 part of our physical body, and our souls exists in space and is inside us, like the teeth in the mouth. It can't forever be violated with impunity.

„I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Book One, Ch. 2 : A Girl from a Different World, § 10, as translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari (1958)
Variant translations:
I think that if the beast dormant in man could be stopped by the threat of, whatever, the lockup or requital beyond the grave, the highest emblem of mankind would be a lion tamer with his whip, and not the preacher who sacrifices himself. But the point is precisely this, that for centuries man has been raised above the animals and borne aloft not by the rod, but by music: the irresistibility of the unarmed truth, the attraction of its example. It has been considered up to now that the most important thing in the Gospels is the moral pronouncements and rules, but for me the main thing is that Christ speaks in parables from daily life, clarifying the truth with the light of everyday things. At the basis of this lies the thought that communion among mortals is immortal and that life is symbolic because it is meaningful.
Book One, Part 2 : A Girl from a Different World, § 10, as translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2010)
I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats of any kind, whether of jail or retribution, then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer, not the prophet who sacrificed himself.... What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.
Paraphrase of the 1958 translation, as quoted in The New York Times (1 January 1978)
Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Kontext: I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But don’t you see, this is just the point — what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful attraction of its example. It has always been assumed that the most important things in the Gospels are the ethical maxims and commandments. But for me the most important thing is that Christ speaks in parables taken from life, that He explains the truth in terms of everyday reality. The idea that underlies this is that communion between mortals is immortal, and that the whole of life is symbolic because it is meaningful.

„The idea that underlies this is that communion between mortals is immortal, and that the whole of life is symbolic because it is meaningful.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Book One, Ch. 2 : A Girl from a Different World, § 10, as translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari (1958)
Variant translations:
I think that if the beast dormant in man could be stopped by the threat of, whatever, the lockup or requital beyond the grave, the highest emblem of mankind would be a lion tamer with his whip, and not the preacher who sacrifices himself. But the point is precisely this, that for centuries man has been raised above the animals and borne aloft not by the rod, but by music: the irresistibility of the unarmed truth, the attraction of its example. It has been considered up to now that the most important thing in the Gospels is the moral pronouncements and rules, but for me the main thing is that Christ speaks in parables from daily life, clarifying the truth with the light of everyday things. At the basis of this lies the thought that communion among mortals is immortal and that life is symbolic because it is meaningful.
Book One, Part 2 : A Girl from a Different World, § 10, as translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2010)
I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats of any kind, whether of jail or retribution, then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer, not the prophet who sacrificed himself.... What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.
Paraphrase of the 1958 translation, as quoted in The New York Times (1 January 1978)
Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Kontext: I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But don’t you see, this is just the point — what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful attraction of its example. It has always been assumed that the most important things in the Gospels are the ethical maxims and commandments. But for me the most important thing is that Christ speaks in parables taken from life, that He explains the truth in terms of everyday reality. The idea that underlies this is that communion between mortals is immortal, and that the whole of life is symbolic because it is meaningful.

„How wonderful to be alive," he thought. "But why does it always hurt?“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Quelle: El doctor Zhivago

„When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it.“

—  Borís Pasternak

„To be a woman is a great adventure;
To drive men mad is a heroic thing.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Quelle: Doctor Zhivago

„You and I, it's as though we have been taught to kiss in heaven and sent down to earth together, to see if we know what we were taught.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Quelle: Doctor Zhivago

„I have the impression that if he didn't complicate his life so needlessly, he would die of boredom.“

—  Borís Pasternak, buch Doktor Schiwago

Quelle: Doctor Zhivago