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The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Book by Muriel Barbery · 50 quotes · Inspirational, Philosophy, Quotes

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog Quotes

“I have read so many books. And yet, like most Autodidacts, I am never quite sure of what I have gained from them. There are days when I feel I have been able to grasp all there is know in one single gaze, as if invisible branches suddenly spring out of no where, weaving together all the disparate strands of my reading. And then suddenly the meaning escapes, the essence evaporates and no matter how often I reread the same lines they seem to flee ever further with each subsequent reading and I see myself as some mad old fool who thinks her stomach is full because she's been reading the menu.”

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“Even with Manuela, to whom I would gladly entrust my life, I do not have this feeling of absolute security that comes when one is sure that understanding is mutual. Entrusting one's life is not the same as opening up one's soul, and although I love Manuela like a sister, I cannot share with her the things that constitute the tiny portion of meaning and emotion that my incongruous existence has stolen from the universe.”

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“Any game where the goal is to build territory has to be beautiful. There may be phases of combat, but they are only means to an end, to allow your territory to survive. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the game of go is that it has been proven that in order to win, you must live, but you must also allow the other player to live. Players who are too greedy will lose: it is a subtle game of equilibrium, where you have to get ahead without crushing the other player. In the end, life and death are only the consequences of how well or how poorly you have made your construction. This is what one of Taniguchi's characters says: you live, you die, these are consequences. It's a proverb for playing go, and for life.”

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“Let us just say that the idea of struggling to make my way in a world of privileged, affluent people exhausted me before I even tried: I was the child of nothing, I had neither beauty not charm, neither past nor ambition; I had not the slightest savoir-fare or sparkle. There was only one thing I wanted: to be left alone, without too many demands upon my person, so that for a few moments each day I might be allowed to assuage my hunger.”

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“Maybe the greatest anger and frustration come not from unemployment or poverty or the lack of a future but from the feeling that you have no culture, because you've been torn between cultures, between incompatible symbols. How can you exist if you don't know where you are? So you burn cars, ecause when you have no culture, you're no longer a civilised animal, you're a wild beast. And a wild beast burns and kills and pillages.”

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“Listening to Madame Michel and seeing her cry, but above all seeing how it made her feel better to be able to tell her story to me, I understood something. I understood that I was suffering because I couldn’t make anyone else around me feel better. I understood that I have a grudge against Papa, Maman and above all Colombe because I’m incapable of being useful to them, because there’s nothing I can do for them. They are already too far gone in their sickness, and I am too weak. I can see their symptoms clearly but I’m not skilled to treat them and so as a result that makes me as sick as they are, only I don’t see it. Whereas when I was holding Madame Michel’s hand I could feel how I was sick, too. And one thing is sure, no matter what: I won’t get any better by punishing the people I can’t heal.”

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“«Je m’appelle Paloma, j’ai douze ans, j’habite au 7 rue de Grenelle dans un appartement de riches. Mais malgré toute cette chance et toute cette richesse, depuis très longtemps, je sais que la destination finale, c’est le bocal à poissons; la vacuité et l’ineptie de l’existence. Comment est-ce que je le sais ? Il se trouve que je suis très intelligente. Exceptionnellement intelligente, même. Même si on compare avec les adultes, je suis beaucoup plus maligne que la plupart d’entre eux. C’est comme ça. Je n’en suis pas spécialement fière parce que je n’y suis pour rien. Mais ce qui est certain, c’est que dans le bocal, je n’irais pas. C’est une décision bien réfléchie. Même pour une personne aussi intelligente que moi, aussi douée pour les études, aussi différente des autres et aussi supérieure à la plupart, la vie est déjà toute tracée et c’est triste à pleurer : personne ne semble avoir songé au fait que si l’existence est absurde, y réussir brillamment n’a pas plus de valeur qu’y échouer. C’est seulement plus confortable. Et encore : je crois que la lucidité rend le succès amer alors que la médiocrité espère toujours quelque chose.»”

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“I have read so many books. And yet, like most Autodidacts, I am never quite sure of what I have gained from them. There are days when I feel I have been able to grasp all there is to know in one single gaze, as if invisible branches suddenly spring out of no where, weaving together all the disparate strands of my reading. And then suddenly the meaning escapes, the essence evaporates and no matter how often I reread the same lines they seem to flee ever further with each subsequent reading and I see myself as some mad old fool who thinks her stomach is full because she's been reading the menu.”

Reading
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“As we all know, poodles are a type of curly-haired dog preferred by petit bourgeois retirees, ladies very much on their own who transfer their affection upon their pet, or residential concierges ensconced in their gloomy loges. Poodles come in black or apricot. The apricot ones tend to be crabbier than the black ones, who on the other hand do not smell as nice. Though all poodles bark snappily at the slightest provocation, they are particularly inclined to do so when nothing at all is happening. They follow their master by trotting on their stiff little legs without moving the rest of their sausage-shaped trunk. Above all they have venomous little black eyes set deep in their insignificant eye-sockets. Poodles are ugly and stupid, submissive and boastful. They are poodles, after all”

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“Elsewhere the world may be blustering or sleeping, wars are fought, people live and die, some nations disintegrate, while others are born, soon to be swallowed up in turn - and in all this sound and fury, amidst eruptions and undertows, while the world goes its merry way, bursts into flames, tears itself apart and is reborn: human life continues to throb. So, let us drink a cup of tea.”

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“Il bello è ciò che cogliamo mentre sta passando. È l’effimera configurazione delle cose nel momento in cui ne vedi insieme la bellezza e la morte. Questo significa che è così che dobbiamo vivere? Sempre in equilibrio tra la bellezza e la morte, tra il movimento e la sua scomparsa? Forse essere vivi è proprio questo: andare alla ricerca degli istanti che muoiono.”

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“Das echte Neue ist das was nicht alt wird, trotz der Zeit. Die Kamelie auf dem Moos des Tempels, das Violett der Berge von Kyoto, eine Tasse aus blauem Porzellan, dieses Aufblühen der reinen Schönheit inmitten vergänglicher Leidenschaften, ist es nicht das, wonach wir alle streben? Und was wir, die Zivilisation des Westens, nicht zu erreichen vermögen? Die Betrachtung der Ewigkeit in der Bewegung des Lebens.”

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“As pessoas creem perseguir as estrelas e acabam como peixes-vermelhos num aquário. Fico pensando se não seria mais simples ensinar desde o início ás crianças que a vida é absurda. Isso privaria a infância de alguns bons momentos, mas faria o adulto ganhar um tempo considerável - sem falar que, pelo menos, seríamos poupados de um traumatismo, o do aquário.”

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