Of everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living nothing is in my eyes better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad.
Interpretation
Bridges symbolize connection and unity among people, surpassing the value of physical structures.
Ivo Andric emphasizes the profound significance of bridges as symbols of human connection and shared experiences. Unlike houses or shrines, which can represent isolation or exclusivity, bridges are inherently inclusive and serve a common purpose, reflecting the collective needs of humanity. They stand as enduring structures that promote harmony and understanding, highlighting the importance of cooperation and community in human life.
In practice
In a speech about community development, one might say, 'Like Ivo Andric stated, bridges are more valuable than houses, symbolizing our connections with one another.'
It seems to me, that if people only knew how hard it was for me to endure life, they would find it easier to forgive me for all the wrong things I’ve done and all the good things that I have failed to do. And they would still find a little compassion within them to pity me.
Forgetfulness heals everything and song is the most beautiful manner of forgetting, for in song man feels only what he loves.
To be a man, to have been born without knowing it or wanting it, to be thrown into the ocean of existence, to be obliged to swim, to exist; to have an identity; to resist the pressure and shocks from the outside and the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts - one's own and those of others - which so often exceed one's capacities? And what is more, to endure one's own thoughts about all this: in a word, to be human.
That wild beast which lives in man and does not dare to show itself until the barriers of law and custom have been removed, was now set free.
Lands of great discoveries are also lands of great injustices.
Between the fear that something would happen and the hope that still it wouldn't, there is much more space than one thinks. On that narrow, hard, bare and dark space a lot of us spend their lives.
The man who only loves beautiful things is dreaming, whereas the man who knows absolute beauty is wide awake.
India is a proud and sovereign country. We do not take any decisions under pressure from the U.S. or any other power.
Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined; Till at his second bidding darkness fled, Light shone, and order from disorder sprung.
I insist that men shall have the right to work out their lives in their own way, always allowing to others the right to work out their lives in their own way, too.
Jump way back to one time, Evie and me did this fashion shoot in a junk yard, in a slaughterhouse, in a mortuary. We'd go anywhere to look good by comparison, and what I realize is mostly what I hate about Evie is the fact that she's so vain and stupid and needy. But what I hate most is how she's just like me. What I really hate is me so I hate pretty much everybody.
This dying forces you to look into yourself. And in this, compassion is the only way. Love is the only way.
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