Centre for Romanian Studies

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘B’

Bach, Johann Sebastian:
“Without exaggeration, for me Bach represents what the Holy Communion represents for the Christian; for the last half a century he was my daily bread and his music that of my soul: which means that he has a special place, which is immense. He has no boundaries”
(Georges ENESCO, (1881-1955), composer, conductor, violinist)

Beauty:
“Beauty is absolute equity.”
(Constantin BRANCUSI (1876-1957), Sculptor)

Bigamy:
“ – What’s wrong with bigamy?”
“ – It seems like an eminently sensible idea. You have been practising it all your life.”
(Antoine BIBESCO (1878 – 1951), Diplomat)
(Answering his cousin Georges Bibesco, Bucharest, Jockey Club)

Bilingual:
“I do not believe that there is such a thing as bilingual poetry. Double-talk, yes, this you may find among our various contemporary arts and acrobatics of the word, especially those which manage to establish themselves in blissful harmony with each fashion of consumer culture, being as polyglot as they are polychrome.
Poetry is of necessity a unique instance of language. Hence never – forgive the truism, but poetry, like truth, goes all too often to the dogs – hence never what is double.”
(Paul CELAN (1920-1970), Poet)
(Reply to question on the “Problem of Bilingual”)
(“Collected Prose”, Cancarnet, 1986)

Biographer:
“It is incredible that the prospect of facing a biographer would not stop anybody of living his life.”
(Emil CIORAN (1911-1995), philosopher, writer)
(“Syllogismes de l’amertume”)

Book:
“A book is a delayed suicide.”
(Emil CIORAN (1911-1995), philosopher, writer)
(“De l’inconvenient d’etre ne”)

Bourgeois:
“The petty bourgeois is for me the individual of borrowed ideas, ubiquitously found in all societies, at all times: the conformist who adopts the philosophy of any society (or the dominant ideology) and never criticises. This average man is everywhere.”
(Eugene IONESCO (1912-1994), dramatist)

Bucovina:
“I still have the Babel of this fabulous land in my ears: Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Yidish, Polish, Magyar, Armenian…”
(Gregor von REZZORI (1914-1998), Writer)

British:
“The British and the French who cry over the fate that befell Austria remind me of myself as a child, when I tore out the petals of a daisy one by one and then wept because the stem looked so ugly.”
(Marthe BIBESCO, (1886-1973), Writer, Socialite)

AUTHORS:
Antoine BIBESCO, Marthe BIBESCO, Constantin BRANCUSI, Paul CELAN, Emil CIORAN, Eugene IONESCO, Gregor von REZZORI

KEY WORDS:
Bach, Beauty, Bigamy, Bilingual, Biographer, Book, Bourgeois, Bucovina, British