novelists-from-serbia

"About Bosnians"

"A mi nismo ničiji, uvijek smo na nekoj međi, uvijek nečiji miraz. Zar je onda čudno što smo siromašni? Stoljećima mi se tražimo i prepoznajemo, uskoro nećemo znati ni tko smo, zaboravljamo već da nešto i hoćemo, drugi nam čine čast da idemo pod njihovom zastavom jer svoje nemamo, mame nas kad smo potrebni a odbacuju kad odslužimo, najtužniji vilajet na svijetu, najnesretniji ljudi na svijetu, gubimo svoje lice a tuđe ne možemo da primimo, otkinuti a neprihvaćeni, strani svakome i onima čiji smo rod, i onima koji nas u rod ne primaju. Živimo na razmeđu svjetova, na granici naroda, svakome na udaru, uvijek krivi nekome. Na nama se lome talasi istorije, kao na grebenu. Sila nam je dosadila, i od nevolje smo stvorili vrlinu: postali smo pametni iz prkosa."

"Šta smo onda mi? Lude? Nesrećnici? Najzamršeniji ljudi na svijetu. Ni s kim istorija nije napravila takvu šalu kao s nama. Do jučer smo bili ono što želimo danas da zaboravimo. Ali nismo postali ni nešto drugo. Stali smo na pola puta, zabezeknuti. Ne možemo više nikud. Otrgnuti smo, a nismo prihvaćeni. Kao rukavac što ga je bujica odvojila od majke rijeke, i nema više toka ni ušća, suviše malen da bude jezero, suviše velik da ga zemlja upije. S nejasnim osjećanjem stida zbog porijekla, i krivice zbog otpadništva, nećemo da gledamo unazad, a nemamo kamo da gledamo unaprijed, zato zadržavamo vrijeme, u strahu od ma kakvog rješenja. Preziru nas i braća i došljaci, a mi se branimo ponosom i mržnjom. Htjeli smo da se sačuvamo, a tako smo se izgubili, da više ne znamo ni šta smo. Nesreća je što smo zavoljeli ovu svoju mrtvaju i nećemo iz nje. A sve se plaća, pa i ova ljubav."

"A man who is spiritually more developed than others is in a difficult situation, unless he is protected by his position and the fear that position instills. Such a man becomes a loner: his standards are different, useless to others, but they still set him apart.""

"He entered into life with a burden that most of us bear: with the example of great men before his eyes and the desire to follow in their footsteps, but without any knowledge of petty men, who are the only ones we meet."

"These are smart people; They receive a mess from the east, and a good life from the west; They never rush because only life rushes; They are not interested in what awaits after tomorrow; What is meant to be will come, and little of it depends on them; When they are together they are in trouble, for this they do not like to be together often; They rarely trust anyone, but it’s easiest to fool them with nice words; They do not resemble heroes, but they are not easily scared with threats; They pay attention to nothing, they care not of what happens around them; And then out of nowhere suddenly everything interests them, they flip everything and look around; Then they become sleepers again and do not like to remember what came to pass; They are scared of change because it often brings evil; They are easily fed up with a man, even if he does them good;Strange people; They talk bad about you but love you, kiss you on the cheek but hate you; Laugh at noble deeds but remember them; They spend most of their life on spite and goodness; And don’t know which is stronger when; Evil, good, gentle, raw, unable to move on, stormy, open, hidden; They are all this and everything in between; And most importantly they are mine, and I am theirs; And everything I’m saying; I’m saying about myself."

"From far away, through the sights of a sniper, they would look like Muslims, Serbs or Croats to somebody, but I approached them face to face, I saw them clearly, and trust me... They were just people..."

""I have always been against the war; I placed my family's existence in danger because I was speaking out against primitivism and nationalism and stupidity. I didn't do that so I could perform in Croatia again one day, but so I could talk with my children as a man, when the time comes." \"

"Like Machiavelli would say, little Jovana was five months old, and I was prepared to write even "I saw Feldmarshall Göring three times", just to slip away from the barracks for two days and see my little girl and her beautiful mother."

"I said: 'I'll come [to Sarajevo]' and they asked me if I'm afraid; headlines where I'm from were saying: 'Balašević to be assassinated in Sarajevo'. [...] Let me tell you whether I'm afraid to come to Sarajevo... If I was afraid of something, I would seek refuge in Sarajevo. I told them: 'Okay, I'm going and it will be the way it is, it's alright'. [They said:] 'Aren't you afraid for your life? Afraid of an assassination?' I said: If that's the price, to be in the cross-hairs of some madman for 2 days. They were in the cross-hairs for 5 years. It's a way for me to, for at least 2 days, be a citizen of Sarajevo. At least in that way."

"While we were growing up, the biggest insult for us was when dark emigrant forces called our homeland an unnatural, artificial creation. When we grew up, the biggest insult for us was when we realised that was true."