Constantin Cavafy citations
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Constantin Cavafy ou Cavafis, connu aussi comme Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, ou Kavaphes , est un poète grec né à Alexandrie en Égypte le 29 avril 1863 et mort dans la même ville le 29 avril 1933.

Très peu connu de son vivant, il est désormais considéré comme une des figures les plus importantes de la littérature grecque du XXe siècle. Il fut fonctionnaire au ministère des travaux publics d'Alexandrie, journaliste et courtier à la bourse d'Alexandrie. Wikipedia  

✵ 29. avril 1863 – 29. avril 1933
Constantin Cavafy photo
Constantin Cavafy: 62   citations 0   J'aime

Constantin Cavafy: Citations en anglais

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

The First Step http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=145&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Contexte: 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.

“The frivolous can call me frivolous.
I’ve always been most punctilious about
important things.”

A Byzantine Nobleman in Exile Composing Verses http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=16&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Contexte: The frivolous can call me frivolous.
I’ve always been most punctilious about
important things. And I insist
that no one knows better than I do
the Holy Fathers, or the Scriptures, or the Canons of the Councils.

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

" In the Same Space http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_134.htm" (1929)
Contexte: 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

“Don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly.”

The God Abandons Antony http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=12&cat=1 (1911).
Variant translations:
Like one who’s long prepared, like someone brave,
as befits a man who’s been blessed with a city like this,
go without faltering toward the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the entreaties and the whining of a coward,
to the sounds — a final entertainment —
to the exquisite instruments of that initiate crew,
and bid farewell to her, to Alexandria, whom you are losing.
As translated by Daniel Mendelsohn (2009).
Don't mourn your luck that's failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive — don't mourn them uselessly:
as one long prepared, and full of courage,
say goodbye to her, to Alexandria who is leaving.
Unknown translator http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_20.htm
Collected Poems (1992)
Contexte: Don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.

“Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility.”

The Regiment of the Senses http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=296&cat=5 as translated by Manuel Savidis
Contexte: Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility. When the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners; when the senses shiver and shudder, it is only a fool and and an irreverent person that will keep his distance, who will not embrace the good cause, marching towards the conquest of pleasures and passions.
All of morality’s laws – poorly understood and applied – are nil and cannot stand even for a moment, when the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners.

“The days of the future stand in front of us
Like a line of candles all alight —
Golden and warm and lively little candles.”

"Candles" [Κεριά], as translated by Manolis, in Constantine P. Cavafy: Poems (2008) edited by George Amabile

“If you are one of the truly elect,
be careful how you attain your eminence.”

Theodotos http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=105&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)

“One candle is enough. Its gentle light
will be more suitable, will be more gracious
when the Shades arrive, the Shades of Love.”

To Call Up the Shades http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=17&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)

“Later, in a more perfect society,
someone else made just like me
is certain to appear and act freely.”

Κατόπι — στὴν τελειοτέρα κοινωνία —
κανένας ἄλλος καμωμένος σὰν ἐμένα
βέβαια θὰ φανεῖ κ’ ἐλεύθερα θὰ κάμει.
Hidden Things
Collected Poems (1992)

“From all I did and all I said
let no one try to find out who I was.”

Hidden Things http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=161&cat=4
Collected Poems (1992)

“Try to keep them, poet,
those erotic visions of yours,
however few of them there are that can be stilled.
Put them, half-hidden, in your lines.”

When They Come Alive http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=114&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)

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