Who said this?

WHIP IT!

Hi

Thought this might be the best place to ask this... I have been trying to find confirmation that the poet Cavafy did indeed say/write this quote. I have seen it attributed to him but can't seem to confirm for definite that it's him...

"In those streets and fields where you grew up, there you will live and there you will die."

I first read it in an article by the well known write Con Houlihan, who attributed it to Cavafy... but I can't seem to get it "authenticated" for want of a better phrase.... any help??

Thanks

Ficheall

According to Google, everyone else attributes it to Cavafy too... But how reliable are people?

Delicia

I think the quote may be a loose translation from his poem 'The City' -

You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.
This city will always pursue you. You will walk
the same streets, grow old in the same neighborhoods,
will turn gray in these same houses.
You will always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:
there is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,
you’ve destroyed it everywhere else in the world.

echo beach

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I first read it in an article by the well known write Con Houlihan, who attributed it to Cavafy... but I can't seem to get it "authenticated" for want of a better phrase.... any help??

If Con said it that would be good enough for me.

WHIP IT!

Thanks for your help guys...

As an added question... I think I have been taking this stand-alone quote out of context - not being familiar with the poet or this poem...

I had always thought of it as a "positive" quote, as in "home is home... home is where the heart is" kind of thing... but on further investigation, it seems likely it was meant in a more negative kind of manner - ie, "therer's no escaping those damned streets where we grew up"

Would you agree? Thanks again for your input...

Delicia

Yes, he's certainly a bit melancholy! When I read this I was reminded of the story of the traveller who met the old man on the side of the road where he asked what are the people of this village like? The old man answered what were they like in the last village? Awful, couldn't help me, couldn't wait to get away. Old Man - Ah sure, they're the same here. The next traveller & the same question. He said the last village were great, sorry to see him leave, couldn't help enough. The old man answered - Ah sure they're the same here.

I got the sense from his poem that if you squandered your life at home that green fields wouldn't help.

WHIP IT!

Thanks a lot.. I'm glad I posted this here and learned a little more about the quote...

Reason I'm so interested is, I saw the passage in an article of Con's a long while back and I always really liked it. I actually had been thinking of having it tattooed on myself! But I had always thought of it as a warm, pleasant phrase.. and it seems not..

Thansk again - very interesting input...

Delicia

Fair play - I'm sure there are plenty out there that wish they had researched their tattoos first

WHIP IT!

Delicia wrote: »

Fair play - I'm sure there are plenty out there that wish they had researched their tattoos first

:D

No doubt...