Frases de Constantino Cavafis

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Constantino Cavafis

Fecha de nacimiento: 29. Abril 1863
Fecha de muerte: 29. Abril 1933

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Constantino Cavafis fue un poeta griego, una de las figuras literarias más importantes del siglo XX y uno de los mayores exponentes del renacimiento de la lengua griega moderna.

Trabajó como periodista y como funcionario, y publicó relativamente poco en vida, aunque tras su muerte su obra cobró paulatinamente influencia.

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Frases Constantino Cavafis

„Sombra y noche es el silencio; / día de luz, la palabra.“

— Constantino Cavafis

„Contemplé tanto la belleza, / que mi vista le pertenece.“

— Constantino Cavafis

De belleza

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„He wasn’t completely wrong, poor old Gemistus“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: He wasn’t completely wrong, poor old Gemistus (let Lord Andronicus and the patriarch suspect him if they like), in wanting us, telling us to become pagan once again. "After the Swim" as translated by Daniel Mendelsohn

„And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: p>I created you while I was happy, while I was sad, with so many incidents, so many details.And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.</p "[http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_134.htm In the Same Space]" (1929)

„His friends weren’t Christians; that much was certain.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: His friends weren’t Christians; that much was certain. But even so they couldn’t play as he could (brought up a Christian) with a new religious system, ludicrous in both theory and application. They were, after all, Greeks. Nothing in excess, Augustus. [http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=108&cat=1 Julian Seeing Contempt]

„I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,
with so many incidents, so many details.“

„On hearing about powerful love, respond, be moved
like an aesthete.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: On hearing about powerful love, respond, be moved like an aesthete. Only, fortunate as you’ve been, remember how much your imagination created for you. [http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=157&cat=4 On Hearing of Love]

„How quickly the candles multiply that have been put out.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: I look before me at my lighted candles, I don’t want to turn around and see with horror How quickly the dark line is lengthening, How quickly the candles multiply that have been put out. "Candles" [Κεριά], as translated by Manolis, in Constantine P. Cavafy: Poems (2008) edited by George Amabile

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„Its councils are full of Legislators
no charlatan can fool.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: Just to be on the first step should make you happy and proud. To have come this far is no small achievement: what you have done is a glorious thing. Even this first step is a long way above the ordinary world. To stand on this step you must be in your own right a member of the city of ideas. And it is a hard, unusual thing to be enrolled as a citizen of that city. Its councils are full of Legislators no charlatan can fool. [http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=145&cat=1 The First Step]

„Now the longed-for signal has appeared. Yet when happiness comes
it brings less joy than one expected.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: Now the longed-for signal has appeared. Yet when happiness comes it brings less joy than one expected. But at least we've gained this much: we've rid ourselves of hope and expectation.

„The Spartans weren't to be led
and ordered around
like precious servants.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: The Spartans weren't to be led and ordered around like precious servants. Besides, they wouldn't have thought a pan-Hellenic expedition without a Spartan king in command was to be taken very seriously. Of course, then, "except the Lacedaimonians." That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable. "[http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_1.htm In The Year 200 B.C.]" (1931)

„He who hopes to grow in spirit
will have to transcend obedience and respect.
He'll hold to some laws
but he'll mostly violate
both law and custom, and go beyond
the established, inadequate norm.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: He who hopes to grow in spirit will have to transcend obedience and respect. He'll hold to some laws but he'll mostly violate both law and custom, and go beyond the established, inadequate norm. Sensual pleasures will have much to teach him. He won't be afraid of the destructive act: half the house will have to come down. This way he'll grow virtuously into wisdom. [http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_130.htm Growing in Spirit] (1903)

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„Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: Honor to those who in the life they lead define and guard a Thermopylae. Never betraying what is right, consistent and just in all they do but showing pity also, and compassion; generous when they are rich, and when they are poor, still generous in small ways, still helping as much as they can; always speaking the truth, yet without hating those who lie. [http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=69&cat=1 Thermopylae]

„Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will expose?“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: It will be a great relief when a window opens. But the windows are not there to be found — or at least I cannot find them. And perhaps it is better that I don’t find them. Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny. Who knows what new things it will expose? [http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=137&cat=1 The Windows]

„You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.“

— Constantine P. Cavafy
Context: You won't find a new country, won't find another shore. This city will always pursue you. You'll walk the same streets, grow old in the same neighbourhoods, turn grey in these same houses. You'll always end up in this city. Don't hope for things elsewhere: there's no ship for you, there's no road. Now that you've wasted your life here, in this small corner, you've destroyed it everywhere in the world. "[http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_33.htm The City]", st. 2 (1910)