"What can scare you if your soul is calm? If you overcome vanity, lust and greed? What kind of powers can torture you if you don't torture yourself? What is prison if your soul is free? What is death, if you have gotten to know the world and your soul, and you do not long for unnecessary and embarrassing details? Indeed, you were like the child who is unhappy because he did not get this or that. Always think this: "I have no power, no wealth, maybe no health. But how powerful, how rich, how superior I am, because I adjust my desires to the truth and reality of things, and my soul is free!" No one can take that away from you, no one can give you more than that.
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Author
Márai SándorAll Translations
All Translations
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What can scare you if your soul is calm? If you overcome vanity, lust and greed? What kind of powers can torture you if you don't torture yourself? What is prison if your soul is free? What is death, if you have gotten to know the world and your soul, and you do not long for unnecessary and embarrassing details? Indeed, you were like the child who is unhappy because he did not get this or that. Always think this: "I have no power, no wealth, maybe no health. But how powerful, how rich, how superior I am, because I adjust my desires to the truth and reality of things, and my soul is free!" No one can take that away from you, no one can give you more than that.
""Mi ijeszthet, ha lelked nyugodt? Ha leküzdöd a hiúságot, a kéjvágyat és a kapzsiságot? Miféle hatalmak kínozhatnak, ha te nem kínzod magad? Mi a börtön, ha a lelked szabad? Mi a halál, ha megismerted a világot és lelkedet, s nem vágyol fölösleges és kínos részletekre? Igazán, olyan voltál, mint a gyermek, aki boldogtalan, mert nem kapta meg ezt vagy azt. Gondold mindig ezt: "Nincs hatalmam, sem vagyonom, talán egészségem sincs. De milyen hatalmas vagyok, milyen gazdag, milyen fölényes, mert vágyaimat a dolgok igazságához és valóságához igazítom, s a lelkem szabad!" Ezt senki nem veheti el tőled, ennél többet senki nem adhat."