A Quote by Svetlana Alexievich

Reality has always attracted me like a magnet; it tortured and hypnotized me. I wanted to capture it on paper. — © Svetlana Alexievich
Reality has always attracted me like a magnet; it tortured and hypnotized me. I wanted to capture it on paper.
Though I carry enough electronics to get nervous in a lightning storm, I love paper and I always have a Moleskine journal with me to capture notes, conversations and ideas.
I was never a boy magnet at school. There was always the girl all the guys liked and wanted to date, but it was never me.
Nothing in life prepared me for the way I felt about being a mother. Until then, I sort of felt like a blank sheet of paper. I was always trying to second-guess myself, to be what others wanted me to be.
I try not to read reviews, but if it's a really important review or somebody sends it to me, I'll read it. It's really interesting when you read a review of yourself, you see this weird reflected image - it's like looking a funhouse mirror. Like, "It's sort of me, but is my neck really that elongated?" Sometimes it's vaguely embarrassing what people think of you. When I was in Italy doing this press-interview day, this guy asked me, "Are you a tortured soul?" It's embarrassing to have somebody think you're a tortured soul, or that you think of yourself as a tortured soul.
What attracted me was less art itself than the artist’s life and all that it meant for me: the idea of creativity and freedom of expression and action. I had been attracted to painting and drawing for a long time, but it was not an irresistible passion; what I wanted, at all costs, was to escape the monotony of life.
War could bond men like a magnet, but like a magnet it could repel them, too. The things they saw, the things they did. Sometimes they just wanted to forget.
I always wanted praise and I always wanted attention; I won't lie to you. I was a jazz critic and that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted people to write about me, not me about them. So I thought, What could I do? I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't act or anything like that. OK, I can write.
I always wanted praise, and I always wanted attention; I won't lie to you. I was a jazz critic, and that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted people to write about me, not me about them. So I thought, 'What could I do? I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't act or anything like that. OK, I can write.'
For me the true business of photography is to capture a bit of reality (whatever that is) on film...if, later, the reality means something to someone else, so much the better.
The simplest way for me to look at the law of attraction is if I think of myself as a magnet, and I know that a magnet will attract to it.
My government revoked my passport intentionally to leave me exiled. If they really wanted to capture me, they would've allowed me to travel to Latin America, because the CIA can operate with impunity down there. They did not want that; they chose to keep me in Russia.
I've come to realize that I'm a image maker, not an object maker. Images come to me as photographs because I don't have any other way of express them. I have to translate everything into still or moving pictures. I've learned that reality is not important to me. In the end it is the representation of reality that I'm striving to capture.
I should have said Welsh has always attracted me. By its style and sound more than any other, ever though I first only saw it on coal trucks, I always wanted to know what it was about.
You've got to pay attention to what you're attracted to because as you hold images of what you want, you're gonna be attracted to things that are going to be attracted to you, but it literally moves into physical reality with and through you and it does that by law.
I always wanted to act, but it was not because of the influence of my family. I just wanted to act since I was four! I used to watch a lot of movies. One of the things that attracted me were the songs picturised on 'Govinda' and Karisma Kapoor, who would dance in the middle of the street!
I was always told that the Premier League would suit my playing style, and England has always attracted me. Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to come here so much so that I learned the language, so I was preparing myself in some way for a future move to England.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!