Best 43 quotes of Pramoedya Ananta Toer on MyQuotes

Capital dictates the fate of humanity.

Do not underestimate the human being, who sometimes appears so simple. Even with sight as sharp as an eagle, a mind as sharp as a razor, senses more powerful than gods, hearing that can catch the music and the lamentations of life, your knowledge of humanity will never be total.

Even though no one admits it, writers are leaders in their communities.

Every award for me is important because it means a slap against militarism and fascism in Indonesia.

Every book that is banned is a badge of honor.

Every good teaching may still end up producing evil bandits who have no principles whatsoever, an outcome even more likely when the teacher is also a bandit.

Humankind is able to create new conditions, a new reality. We are not fated to swim forever among the realities that are here now. ... Everything that is worthwhile in human civilization has not only originated from but has been inspired by dreams, by imagination.

I came to see that man finds meaning in his existence only through the active demonstration of his human self, a cosmos comprising the entire constellation of life's factors: culture, civilization, tradition, history, ideals, facts, physical conditions, one's mental state, the ecology, and so on.

I did not succeed in everything I did. And even where it did seem I was succeeding it was not always the case. The human heart has a million facets.

I don't follow any kind of 'isms.' If there is one, it will be Pram-ism.

I happen to be pretty productive when I am in jail. When you are in jail, you have to spend more time with yourself.

I'll do as I please. My mind is not to be imprisoned.

I will not close my eyes, neither those in my head nor those in my soul, as the ship carries me away, along with my future, my dreams, and my beliefs. Buru Island is no happy land somewhere; it's but a way station on my journey in life—though to believe even that much will require no small measure of hope.

Life can give everything to whoever tries to understand and is willing to receive new knowledge.

My words, my writing, my actions—these have never been for myself alone, either directly or indirectly. There is no such thing as an artist who creates art only for himself. That is masturbation.

Such was the love of this grandson for his grandmother that two years after the death of his mother, when she herself fell gravely ill, he vowed to her that someday he would try to tell the world her life story. 'But why?' she asked humbly. 'I'm no one, just a girl from the coast' 'But you are everyone, Grandma,' the young Pramoedya told her. 'You are all the people who have ever had to fight to make this life their own.

The fracture of pencil still useful, but the fracture of soul, we couldn't use it, Mister.

All we can do is pray, Ma, pray. No, Child, these are the deeds of human beings. Planned by the brains of humans, and by the warped hearts of humans. It is to people we must speak our words. God has never sided with the defeated.

Animals are not supposed to have the power to reason and therefore don't care whether there is life after death. But imagine animals trying to cheer themselves up in the same way that our own ancestors did when faced with death, by believing that there is life after death. How would they resolve the problem that in the afterlife they might once more be eaten by man?

As hard as my life has been I have no desire for revenge. If I wish for anything it is for all the things that have been stolen from my life to be returned to me.

At the beginning of all growth, everything imitates. All of us, when we were children, also only imitated. But children grow up and begin their own development.

Beyond twilight comes a beautiful night, the kind of night the weary dream of. And to all my good friends, to those who have already gone to the back side of the mirror, I bow my head.

bukankah tidak ada yang lebih suci bagi seorang pemuda daripada membela kepentingan bangsanya?

But I couldn't stop there. The call of adventure was much stronger and more inviting.

Dahulu dia selalu katakan apa yang dia pikirkan, tangiskan, apa yang ditanggungkan, teriakan ria kesukaan di dalam hati remaja. Kini dia harus diam- tak ada kuping sudi suaranya.

Dan bukankan satu ciri manusia modern adalah juga kemenangan individu atas lingkungannya dengan prestasi individual? Individu-individu kuat sepatutnya bergabung mengangkat sebangsanya yang lemah, memberinya lampu pada yang kegelapan dan memberi mata pada yang buta

Dengarkan sahaya punya cerita. Cuma satu yang dikehendaki Allah, Mas Nganten, yaitu supaya orang ini baik. Buat itu ada agama. Buat itu orang-orang berkiblat kepada-Nya. Tapi nyatanya kehendak Allah yang satu itu itu saja tidak seluruhnya terpenuhi. Di dunia ini terlalu banyak orang jahat.

Hidup tanpa harapan adalah hidup yang kosong

It is proper for people to have friends, friendships without self-interest. Without friends, life is too lonely.

I've often heard people say, “Your country is beautiful, a virtual paradise.” When will the people of Indonesia be as beautiful as their land, with a civilization and culture that contributes to the greater beauty of humankind and no longer smothers and strangles the mind?

Jangan lupa tuan kolonel, dia seniman---hidup hanya di alam perasaan.

Masa lalu tak perlu jadi beban, bila tak sudi jadi pembantu.

People must be just and fair, starting with what they thought.

People are raised to believe that happiness is the land to which they are destined to travel. But that belief, which one so easily accepts as true, might just as well be a mirage.

...pity is the feeling of well-intentioned people who are unable to act...It is those who are able to carry out their good intentions who deserve praise.

The love I knew was from books..

Saya masih berpendapat bahwa Multatuli besar jasanya kepada bangsa Indonesia, karena dialah yang menyadarkan bangsa Indonesia bahwa mereka dijajah. Sebelumnya, di bawah pengaruh Jawanisme, kebanyakan orang Indonesia bahkan tidak merasa bahwa mereka dijajah.

Sejak zaman kompeni, Aceh punya keberanian individu, Jawa punya keberanian kelompok. Beda sekali.

Semua yang baik datang berduyun-duyun. Hanya karena aku sudah memulai. Yang lain-lain akan datang dengan sendirinya. Semua membutuhkan permulaan. Permulaan sudah ditempuh.

tetapi berbahagialah orang yang kuat menderita segala kesengsaraan untuk keperluan nusa dan bangsa

The basic fact is that for the person without civil rights, death is always present in the background, forever dancing, each second of the day, before his eyes.

There is at least one advantage to being an Indonesian citizen: With this country's expanse of land and even greater expanse of sea, it's not difficult finding space for one's grave.

You must first of all think justly. Don’t sit in judgment over others when you don’t know the truth of the matter.