Quotessence
Home / Authors / Édouard Louis

Édouard Louis Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllClasse SocialeHappinessWorking ClassBruitChildhoodClassDrinkingEmotionsFamilyFate

Famous Édouard Louis Quotes

“When December comes, you say you wish the holidays were already over and done with and well behind us, and I think you pretend to hate happiness in order to make yourself believe that, if your life seems an unhappy one, at least you’re the one who chose it. As if you wanted to pretend you had some control over your own unhappiness. As if you wanted to give the impression that, if your life was too hard, you wanted it that way, out of disgust with pleasure, out of a loathing for joy.”

HappinessPleasureUnhappiness
Book:Qui a tué mon père
Create image

“A final memory. A few months ago, in the garden of a teahouse where I’d suggested we meet, she told me how she had once been called to the school by my teacher when I was six years old. The teacher wanted to tell her—at least this is what she claimed—that she, the teacher, found my behavior different from that of the other children, that I spoke of dreams and desires that were too grandiose, ambitions that were abnormal for children my age. She said that the others wanted to become firemen or policemen, but I spoke of becoming the king or the president of the republic; that I swore that as soon as I grew up, I’d take my mother far away from my father and that I’d buy her a château. I would like for this book—this story of her—to be, in some way, the home in which she might take refuge.”

FamilyClass
Book:Combats et métamorphoses d'une femme
Create image

“September 2017 Emmanuel Macron condemns the “laziness” of those in France who, according to him, are blocking his reforms. You’ve always known that this word is reserved for people like you, people who can’t work because they live too far from large towns, who can’t find work because they were driven out of the educational system too soon, without a diploma, who can’t work anymore because life in the factory has mangled their back. We don’t use the word lazy to describe a boss who sits in an office all day ordering other people around. We’d never say that. When I was little, you were always saying, obsessively, I’m not lazy, because you knew this insult hung over you, like a specter you wished to exorcize.”

ViolenceLazinessWorking ClassRuling ClassMacron
Book:Qui a tué mon père
Create image