Bolesław Prus quotes

Bolesław Prus was a Polish writer and journalist, widely regarded as one of the leading figures of Polish literature. Best known for his novel "The Doll," he explored the complexities of society, psychology, and progress in his works. He is remembered for bringing realism and social consciousness to Polish fiction. Here are 11 of his quotes:

For human nature is strange: the less we are inclined to self-sacrifice, the more we insist on it in others. (Bolesław Prus)
A life whose beginning we do not remember, and whose end we do not know. View quote
Bolesław Prus
Folly is as great as the sea, it will compass anything. View quote
Bolesław Prus
Pity is an emotion equally unpleasant to the bestower as to the recipient. View quote
Bolesław Prus
Your true Pole starts to sweat at the second decimal place, at the fifth he runs a temperature, and at the seventh has a stroke... View quote
Bolesław Prus
There are neither graves nor death in Nature; there are various forms of existence, some of which enable us to be chemists, others only chemical substances. View quote
Bolesław Prus
Money really is a great power, only one must know how to use it. View quote
Bolesław Prus
Don't count on luck. If it doesn't come - it won't disappoint you. If it comes - it may supriese you. View quote
Bolesław Prus
And is there no war on today? It is the weapons that have changed, that's all. Instead of an axe or scythe or scimitar, they fight with roubles. View quote
Bolesław Prus
In all of nature, a male belongs to a female that he fancies and who fancies him. And so among the animals there are no idiots. But with us!... I'm a Jew, so I musn't love a Christian woman... He's a merchant, so he's got no right to a countess... And you who've got no money, you've no rights to any woman at all... View quote
Bolesław Prus
Nature has done well and wisely, in not permitting a man to live forever and in bringing into the world ever new generations. An old person is a used-up machine [... He] has too many dogmas to [...] easily [...] believe in a new truth [...]; too many sympathies and antipathies [...] for him to come to love something unfamiliar; [...] too many habits to be able to settle on new ways. Let us add suspiciousness - the fruit of bitter experiences; a pessimism inseparable from all manner of disappointments; and finally, a general decline of powers from exhaustion [...]. (Bolesław Prus)