"To want a woman in the full splendor of her beauty and spirit, a woman who possesses herself, who is self-aware and daring, and who is made even more beautiful and desirable by this, who freely, voluntarily, and superiorly decides her fate; to desire this woman, to love her as she is, and yet to suffer because she has neither the childlike single-mindedness nor the pale innocence, which, if she had, would displease her; to wish him to be who he is, and at the same time not to be who he is; to adore her as life has made her, and to grieve bitterly that the life which fashioned her beauty has anything to do with her, oh, that is an impossible state.
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Author
Anatole FranceAll Translations
All Translations
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To want a woman in the full splendor of her beauty and spirit, a woman who possesses herself, who is self-aware and daring, and who is made even more beautiful and desirable by this, who freely, voluntarily, and superiorly decides her fate; to desire this woman, to love her as she is, and yet to suffer because she has neither the childlike single-mindedness nor the pale innocence, which, if she had, would displease her; to wish him to be who he is, and at the same time not to be who he is; to adore her as life has made her, and to grieve bitterly that the life which fashioned her beauty has anything to do with her, oh, that is an impossible state.
""Akarni egy nőt szépségének és szellemének teljes tündöklésében, egy nőt, aki rendelkezik magával, aki öntudatos és merész, s akit ez még szebbé és kívánatosabbá tesz, aki szabadon, önként, fölényesen dönt a sorsáról; kívánni ezt a nőt, szeretni úgy, amint van, és szenvedni mégis amiatt, hogy nincs meg benne se a gyermeki együgyűség, se a sápadt ártatlanság, ami, ha megvolna benne, visszatetszene; kívánni tőle, hogy az legyen, aki, s ugyanakkor ne legyen az, aki; imádni úgy, amilyenné az élet tette, és amellett keserűen fájlalni, hogy az életnek, amely szépségét kiformálta, köze van hozzá, ó, ez lehetetlen állapot."