"The two inhabitants of Paradise were given the opportunity to choose: happiness without freedom or freedom without happiness; tertium non datur. And they, donkeys, chose freedom: so what? You understand: then they regretted the chains for centuries."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
CommunistsScience fiction authorsNovelists from RussiaShort story writers from RussiaSatirists from Russia
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ai due abitanti del Paradiso fu data l’opportunità di scegliere: felicità senza libertà o libertà senza felicità; tertium non datur. E loro, asini, scelsero la libertà: e dunque? Si capisce: poi hanno rimpianto le catene per secoli. — As quoted in Giulia Giaume, Noi, o di come nacque la distopia, in Arttrubune.com (in Italian; October 25, 2024)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Zamyatin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin [Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин — also romanized as Eugene Zamiatin, as well as Evgeny, Evgenij; Ivenovitch, Evenovitch, and Zamjatin] (February 1, 1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian author famous for his dystopian novel, We, which influenced and inspired later dystopian works such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
25 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Yevgeny Zamyatin →
Related Quotes
"Every today is at the same time both a cradle and a shroud: a shroud for yesterday, a cradle for tomorrow. Today, yes…"
"Yesterday, there was a tsar, and there were slaves; today there is no tsar, but the slaves remain; tomorrow there wil…"
"I turned. She was in a light, saffron-yellow dress of the ancient model. This was a thousand times more cruel than if…"
"It has never occurred to me before, but this is truly how it is: all of us on earth walk constantly over a seething, …"
"At night numbers must sleep; it is their duty, just as it is their duty to work in the daytime. Not sleeping at night…"
"Knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith."
"Those two, in paradise, were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no th…"
"The ancient God created the old man, capable of erring — thus he erred himself."
"She moved nearer, leaned her shoulder against me- and we were one, and something flowed from her into me, and I knew:…"
"True literature can exist only when it is created, not by diligent and reliable officials, but by madmen, hermits, he…"