“An entire life spent reading would have fulfilled my every desire; I already knew that at the age of seven. The texture of the world is painful, inadequate; unalterable, or so it seems to me. Really, I believe that an entire life spent reading would have suited me best. Such a life has not been granted me.” WorldBelieveSeemsAgeDesireReadingI BelieveSevenPainfulGrantedFulfilledTextureInadequate Book:Whatever: A Novel Source: Whatever: A Novel
“I've lived so little that I tend to imagine I'm not going to die; it seems improbable that human existence can be reduced to so little; one imagines, in spite of oneself, that sooner or later something is bound to happen. A big mistake. A life can just as well be both empty and short. The days slip by indifferently, leaving neither trace nor memory; and then all of a sudden they stop.” HumansWellsLittlesBigsSeemsHappensDiesMemoriesExistenceMistakeImagineEmptyBoundsLeavingOneselfSpiteSlipsSooner Or LaterHuman ExistenceImprobableBig Mistake Book:Whatever: A Novel Source: Whatever: A Novel
“I feel as if things are falling apart within me, like so many glass partitions shattering. I walk from place to place in the grip of a fury, needing to act, yet can do nothing about it because any attempt seems doomed in advance. Failure, everywhere failure. Only suicide hovers above me, gleaming and inaccessible.” IfsFeelsSeemsFallCan DoWalksSuicideGlassesDoomedFalling ApartFuryInaccessibleShatteringPartition Book:Whatever Source: Whatever
“When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of determinism. When we think about the past, however, it seems obvious that everything happened in the way that it was intended.” ThinkingWaySeemsPastBeliefChanceHappenedEvidenceObviousFavourDeterminism Book:The Elementary Particles Source: The Elementary Particles
“Irony won't save you from anything; humour doesn't do anything at all. You can look at life ironically for years, maybe decades; there are people who seem to go through most of their lives seeing the funny side, but in the end, life always breaks your heart. Doesn't matter how brave you are, or how reserved, or how much you've developed a sense of humour, you still end up with your heart broken. That's when you stop laughing.” PeopleYearsLooksHeartStillsEndsMatterSeemsSidesBreakLaughingSeeingHumourBrokenBraveDecadesIronyReservedBreak Your Heart Author:Michel Houellebecq
“Without beauty a girl is unhappy because she has missed her chance to be loved. People do not jeer at her, they are not cruel to her, but it is as if she were invisible, no eyes follow her as she walks. People feel uncomfortable when they are with her. They find it easier to ignore her. A girl who is exceptionally beautiful, on the other hand, who has something which too far surpasses the customary seductive freshness of adolescence, appears somehow unreal. Great beauty seems invariably to portend some tragic fate.” PeopleIfsFeelsHandsSeemsEyeBeautifulGirlChanceWalksFateEasierInvisibleUnhappyUncomfortableTragicAdolescenceUnrealSeductiveFreshnessTragic Fate Book:The Elementary Particles Source: The Elementary Particles
“Depressive lucidity, usually described as a radical withdrawal from ordinary human concerns, generally manifests itself by a profound indifference to things which are genuinely of minor interest. Thus it is possible to imagine a depressed lover, while the idea of a depressed patriot seems frankly inconceivable.” HumansIdeasSeemsInterestImagineLoversOrdinaryConcernProfoundRadicalIndifferenceMinorsPatriotWithdrawalDepressiveLucidity Author:Michel Houellebecq
