Ivan, Ivan’s nightmare and the Devil, pg. 773, Bantam Classic ed. 1981

“And so here I am, serving under protest so as to make it posible for things to happen, and acting against reason on superior orders. And people take this comedy seriously, even people endowed with undisputable inteligence. And that’s their tragedy. Of course they suffer, but that still doesn’t prevent them from living and living a real, not an imaginary life, because suffering is life. What joy would there be in life if there were no suffering? Everything would become an endless hymn to God, which would be very holly but rather dull too.”

“Y aquí estoy, sirviendo bajo protesta para que las cosas pasen, y actuando contra mi razón bajo órdenes superiores. Y la gente se toma esta comedia en serio, incluso gente dotada de una inteligencia indudable. Y esa es su tragedia. Claro que sufren, pero eso no evita que sigan viviendo una vida real, no imaginaria, porque el sufrimiento es la vida. Que alegría habría en la vida si no hubiera sufrimiento. Todo sería una interminable adoración a Dios, lo cual sería muy religioso pero también muy aburrido.”

 

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