Bokelskere.no

My People

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

TÅRE, DU TARV IKKJE FALLA

Det var lite for deg
men mykje for meg:
Eit smil da det galdt
og eit handtrykk var alt.

Tåre,
du tarv ikkje falla,
eg veit du er salt.

In my left hand I hold the Koran tight,

And grasp the wine-cup firmly in my right--

Thus do I stand beneath the eye of heaven,

Not quite a saint, nor yet a sinner quite.

(Le Gallienne-oversettelsen)

How sad to be a woman--not to know

Aught of the glory of this breast of snow,

All unconcerned to comb this mighty hair;

To be a woman and yet never know!

Were I a woman, I would all day long

Sing my own beauty in some holy song,

Bend low before it, hushed and half afraid,

And say "I am a woman!" all day long.

(Le Gallienne-oversettelsen)

Fra Liu Xiaobos forsvarstale (2009), Beijing

I have no enemies, and no hatred. None of the police who have watched, arrested, or interrorgated me, none of the prosecutors who have indicted me, and none of the judges who will judge me are mye enemies..... I look forward to the day when our country will be a land of free expression; a country where different values, ideas, beliefs, and political views can compete with one another even as they peacefully coexist; a country where expression of both majority and minority views will be secure, and, in particular, where political views that differ from those of the people in power will be fully respected and protected; a country where all political views will be spread out beneath the sun for citizens to choose among, and every citizen will be able to express views without the slightest of fears; a country where it will be impossible to suffer persecution for expressing a political view. I hope that I will be the last victim in China`s long record of treating words as crimes

The Internet is truly God's gift to the Chinese people.

[...] although people must still deal with tyranny and the suffering that it causes, they can response to hate with love, to prejudice with tolerance, to arrogance with humility, to degradation with dignity and to violence with reason.

Og jeg, en levende mand, paa jorden hjemme,
en tydelig mand af kjød, fra taa til top,
kan, svimmel og sky, i favnen min fornemme
noget, som bare er blik og sind og stemme,
i smertelig angst og anelse løst op!
Du ensomme! Alt, jeg kan, er stumt at stryke
dit duftige haar, med haanden din i min -
og øie til øie saan, staar Pan og Psyke
foran et hav af korn, i stjerneskin!

The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense.

.... å lukte ham, å få et glimt av ham, å fornemme ham, så lenge han ennå er et sted i horisonten og ikke har forsvunnet helt, så lenge vi ennå ikke kan se, i det fjerne, støvskyen som virvler opp under føttene hans som flykter.

Om samenes joik:

[....] noen skrekkelige hyl, som var slik at jeg noen ganger måtte stoppe fingrene i ørene mine."

Guiseppe Acerbi, italiensk naturforsker (1799)

Mennene på disse øyene er de mest plettfrie mennesker, og har et vakkert utseende, det samme gjelder kvinnene deres. Så troskyldige er de at de ikke bryr seg om å låse for noe, ikke en gang kvinnene passer de på.

Pietro Querini, italiensk skipskaptein (1432) om befolkningen i Røst, Norge