Solaris Quotes

“And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“We all know that we are material creatures, subject to the laws of physiology and physics, and not even the power of all our feelings combined can defeat those laws. All we can do is detest them. The age-old faith of lovers and poets in the power of love, stronger than death, that finis vitae sed non amoris, is a lie, useless and not even funny. So must one be resigned to being a clock that measures the passage of time, now out of order, now repaired, and whose mechanism generates despair and love as soon as its maker sets it going? Are we to grow used to the idea that every man relives ancient torments, which are all the more profound because they grow comic with repetition? That human existence should repeat itself, well and good, but that it should repeat itself like a hackneyed tune, or a record a drunkard keeps playing as he feeds coins into the jukebox...”
― Stanislaw Lem, Solaris

“It was to be in essence crueler than revenge: it would have meant the destruction of that which we cannot comprehend.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Apathy robbed me of the strength even to despise myself.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“That’s right. It’s about contact. In my view, the whole thing is in essence extremely simple. Contact means an exchange of experiences, concepts, or at least results, conditions. But what if there’s nothing to exchange? If an elephant isn’t a very large bacterium, then an ocean can’t be a very large brain. Of course, various actions can be performed by both sides. As a result of one of them I’m looking at you right now and trying to explain to you that you’re more precious to me than the twelve years of my life I devoted to Solaris, and that I want to go on being with you. Perhaps your appearance was meant to be torture, perhaps a reward, or perhaps just a test under a microscope. An expression of friendship, a treacherous blow, perhaps a taunt? Perhaps everything at once or—as seems most likely to me—something entirely different. But what can you and I really care about the intentions of our parents, however different they were from one another? You can say that our future depends on those intentions, and I’d agree with you. I can’t predict what’s to come. Nor can you. I can’t even assure you I’ll always love you. If so much has already happened, then anything can happen. Maybe tomorrow I’ll turn into a green jellyfish? It doesn’t depend on me. But in what does depend on us, we’ll be together. Is that not something?”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“I was still a prisoner in my nightmares, and every morning the play began again.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“What did that word mean to me? Earth? I thought of the great bustling cities, where I would wander and lose myself, and I thought of them as I had thought of the ocean on the second or third night, when I had wanted to throw myself upon the dark waves. I shall immerse myself among men. I shall be silent and attentive, an appreciative companion. There will be many acquaintances, friends, women--and perhaps even a wife. For a while, I shall have to make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand and perform the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth, and then those gestures will become reflexes again. I shall find new interests and occupations; and I shall not give myself completely to them, as I shall never again give myself completely to anything or anybody.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“maybe he fought it off and forgot about it, and he wasn’t afraid, because he knew he’d never carry it out. Right, but now, imagine that suddenly, in broad daylight, among other people, he meets IT embodied, chained to him, indestructible. What then? What do you have then?”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“contact, the goal for which we are striving, is as vague and obscure as communion with the saints or the coming of the Messiah.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Put simply, unlike terrestrial organisms it did not adapt to its surroundings over the course of hundreds of millions of years, so as only then to produce a rational species, but it had gained control over its environment from the start.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Каждой науке всегда сопутствует какая-нибудь псевдонаука, её дикое преломление в интеллектах определённого типа; астрономия имеет своего карикатуриста в астрологии, химия имела его когда-то в алхимии, понятно, что рождение соляристики сопровождалось настоящим взрывом мыслей-чудовищ.”
― Станислав Лем, Solaris

“—¿Quién lo ha hecho? ¿Quién nos ha hecho esto? ¿Fue Gibarian? ¿Giese? ¿Einstein? ¿Platón? Eran todos unos delincuentes, ¿sabes? Piensa que, en el interior de un cohete, el ser humano puede estallar como una burbuja, o solidificarse, o cocerse, o vaciarse de sangre tan rápido que no le dé tiempo ni a gritar; después, los huesecillos golpearán las paredes de chapa, mientras dan vueltas por las órbitas de Newton corregidas por Einstein; ¡son los sonajeros del progreso! Nosotros acudimos sin protestar, porque es un camino precioso; por fin hemos llegado y nos hemos realizado, aquí, en estas celdas, sobre estos platos, entre friegaplatos inmortales, rodeados de un ejército de fieles armarios y devotas tazas de WC. (...)”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Kris,” Harey whispered even more softly than before. I felt rather than heard her coming noiselessly up to me, and I pretended I hadn’t noticed. At that moment I wanted to be alone. I had to be alone. I still hadn’t found strength inside myself. I’d reached no decision, no resolution. As I stared at the darkening sky, at the stars that were only a spectral shadow of terrestrial stars, I stood there motionless; in the emptiness that was gradually”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Human beings set out to encounter other worlds, other civilizations, without having fully gotten to know their own hidden recesses, their blind alleys, well shafts, dark barricaded doors. To give”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“We’re not searching for anything except people. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“We’re not searching for anything except people. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“We pass through vast halls, each with a capacity of ten Kronecker units, and creep like so many ants clinging to the folds of breathing vaults and craning to watch the flight of soaring girders, opalescent in the glare of searchlights, and elastic domes which criss-cross and balance each other unerringly, the perfection of a moment, since everything here passes and fades. The essence of this architecture is movement synchronized towards a precise objective. We observe a fraction of the process, like hearing the vibration of a single string in an orchestra of supergiants. We know, but cannot grasp, that above and below, beyond the limits of perception or imagination, thousands and millions of simultaneous transformations are at work, interlinked like a musical score by mathematical counterpoint. It has been described as a symphony in geometry, but we lack the ears to hear it.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“We don't need other worlds, we need mirrors.”
― Stanislaw Lem, Solaris

“I’ve no intention of trying to dissuade you. I’ll only say one thing: in an inhuman situation you’re trying to behave like a human being. That may be admirable, but it’s also futile. Though in fact I’m not even sure it’s admirable—I’m not sure something foolish can also be admired.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Allora ho capito che, qualunque cosa io faccia, sarà lo stesso; voglia o non voglia per te dev'essere una tortura. Forse qualcosa di peggio, poiché gli strumenti di tortura sono passivi e innocenti, come le pietre che possono cadere e ammazzare. Ma uno strumento di tortura che ti ama e che vuole il tuo bene... Veramente non posso immaginarmelo.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Am I responsible for my unconscious? No one else is, if not myself.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“I thought of the great bustling cities where I would wander and lose myself, and I thought of them as I had thought of the ocean on the second or third night, when I had wanted to throw myself upon the dark waves. I shall immerse myself among men. I shall be silent and attentive, an appreciative companion. There will be many acquaintances, friends, women—and perhaps even a wife. For a while, I shall have to make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand and per- form the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth, and then those gestures will become reflexes again. I shall find new interests and occupations; and I shall not give myself completely to them, as I shall never
again give myself completely to anything or anybody.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“That depends ... If I could hear your voice, I think I might be able to hold out.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Το μόνο για το οποίο ψάχνουμε είναι ο Άνθρωπος. Δεν χρειαζόμαστε άλλους κόσμους. Καθρέφτες χρειαζόμαστε. Τους άλλους κόσμους δεν ξέρουμε τι να τους κάνουμε. Με λίγα λόγια, ο δικός μας κόσμος μάς είναι αρκετός· δεν μπορούμε όμως να τον δεχτούμε ως έχει.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“La modestia nos impide decirlo en voz alta, pero a veces pensamos, de nosotros mismos, que somos maravillosos. Entretanto, no queremos conquistar el cosmos, solo pretendemos ensanchar las fronteras de la Tierra. Unos planetas habrán de ser desérticos, como el Sáhara; otros gélidos, al igual que el polo; o bien tropicales, como la selva brasileña. Somos humanitarios y nobles. No aspiramos a conquistar otras razas, tan solo deseamos transmitirles nuestros valores y, a cambio, recibir su herencia. Nos consideramos caballeros de Santo Contacto. Esa es otra falsedad. No buscamos nada, salvo personas.

No necesitamos otros mundos. Necesitamos espejos. No sabemos qué hacer con otros mundos. Con uno, ya nos atragantamos. Aspiramos a dar con nuestra propia e idealizada imagen: habrá planetas y civilizaciones más perfectas que la nuestra; en otras, en cambio, esperamos encontrar el reflejo de nuestro primitivo pasado. Mientras, al otro lado subsiste algo que no aceptamos, de lo que nos defendemos, ¡pero si de la Tierra no hemos traído más que un destilado de virtudes, la heroica estatua del Hombre! Hemos llegado aquí tal como somos en realidad y cuando la otra parte, la parte que silenciamos, nos muestra esa verdad, ¡no somos capaces de aceptarlo!”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Noi cerchiamo solo l'uomo. Non abbiamo bisogno di altri mondi, abbiamo bisogno di specchi. Non sappiamo che cosa farcene di altri mondi. Uno ci basta, quello in cui sguazziamo.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Pensa che in un razzo l'uomo può scoppiare come un pallone o restare pietrificato, o andare arrosto, e poi rimangono solo gli ossicini, a ballonzolare fra le pareti di latta, sulle orbite del progresso! Noi abbiamo seguito, con gioia, questa stupenda via... e siamo arrivati, e in queste celle, sopra questi piatti, tra immortali lavandini, con una schiera di armadi fedeli, di gabinetti affezionati, qua c'è la nostra realizzazione...”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“A bosszúnál is barbárabb lépés lett volna: elpusztítani valamit, mert nem tudjuk megérteni.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“Every science comes with its own pseudo-science, a bizarre distortion that comes from a certain kind of mind: astronomy has its caricaturist in astrology, chemistry used to have alchemy. So”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

“La oscuridad se poblaba. Oía pasos. Algo se amontonaba por encima de mí, se adueñaba de mí, me envolvía y me penetraba, impalpable, inconsistente. Petrificado, dejé de respirar, no había aire para respirar.”
― Stanislaw Lem, Solaris