Halldór Laxness - Iceland's Bell (1943)

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When I was in Bessastaðir I had a jug of water—and an ax. A well-sharpened ax is a fine tool. On the other hand I've never been fond of the gallows, and never less than when I wrestled a hanged man.

Halldór Laxness
Over verdant lowlands cut by the deep streamwaters of the south hangs a peculiar gloom. Every eye is stifled by the clouds that block the sight of the sun, every voice is muffled like the chirps of fleeing birds, every quasi-movement sluggish. Children must not laugh, no attention must be drawn to the fact that a man exists, one must not provoke the powers with frivolity—do nothing but prowl along, furtively, lowly. Maybe the Godhead had not yet struck its final blow, an unexpiated sin might still fester somewhere, perhaps there still lurked worms that needed to be crushed.

Halldór Laxness
He called out for the others, but they were nowhere near. He tried to run, without knowing which way to go, but his legs were sluggish and the earth stood on end; in the next instant he found himself lying horizontal, his cheek in the dirt, without having felt himself fall. Then the earth tilted away from him again. He tried to walk steadily, but the earth continued to surge. Finally he sat down beneath a house-gable, leaned his back against the wall, and waited until the earth settled back in its place. He drooped his head and mumbled about his forefathers... In the end all he could do was start to sing the sad passion-hymns and death-prayers his mother had taught him in his youth.

Halldór Laxness
As a rule, the only way that anyone could escape from the castle of Bremerholm was through a dead-end opening: namely, the grave.

Halldór Laxness
Because there are indeed women in Iceland, it will now be proven to you, you ugly wench, that there are also men in Iceland!

Halldór Laxness
The raven is the bird of all the gods. It was the bird of Odin and the bird of Jesus Christ. It will also be the bird of the god Skandilán, who has yet to be born. Whomever the raven rends attains salvation.

Halldór Laxness
It's an honor to be beheaded. Even a little churl becomes a man by being beheaded.

Halldór Laxness
It's both ludicrous and embarrassing to recall one's youth.

Halldór Laxness
The glimmer continued to play about the vault of heaven. To the west one could see the roofs of nearby mansions and the tower of Our Lady's Church silhouetted against the dull red glow of embers in the darkness of the night.

Halldór Laxness
Gold is precious because it resembles the sun. Silver has the light of the moon.

Halldór Laxness
All creation complains and moans, my dear lord Commissarius. Complaint is its distinctive sound.

Halldór Laxness
Icelanders are grateful to meet foreigners who have heard of their country. And even more grateful to hear someone say it deserves better.

Halldór Laxness
When has human fortune ever been regarded as something better than a crime, or been enjoyed in any other way than in secret, directly contrary to the laws of God and man?

Halldór Laxness
The truth displayed in a good life is the fairest of images.

Halldór Laxness
These people, who have since antiqui possessed the most distinguished litteras in the northern part of the world, choose now to walk upon calfskin or to eat calfskin rather than to read the old words written upon calfskin.

Halldór Laxness
When's there ever been a decent saint who didn't start out as a thief?

Halldór Laxness
A man's conscience is an unsteady judge of right and wrong.

Halldór Laxness