“I witness the birth on paper of sentences that have eluded my will and appear in spite of me on the sheet, teaching me something that I neither knew nor thought I might want to know. This painless birth, like an unsolicited proof, gives me untold pleasure, and with neither toil nor certainty but the joy of frank astonishment I follow the pen that is guiding and supporting me.” KnowsWantGivingMightJoyPleasureTeachingBirthPaperGive MeSentencesProofCertaintyWitnessSpitePensFrankSheetsToilAstonishmentPainless Author:Muriel Barbery
“Do you know that it is in your company that I have had my finest thoughts?” KnowsCompanyDo You KnowFinest Author:Muriel Barbery
“In a split second of eternity, everything is changed, transfigured. A few bars of music, rising from an unfamiliar place, a touch of perfection in the flow of human dealings - I lean my head slowly to one side, reflect on the camellia on the moss on the temple, reflect on a cup of tea, while outside the wind is rustling foliage, the forward rush of life is crystalized in a brilliant jewel of a moment that knows neither projects nor future, human destiny is rescued from the pale succession of days, glows with light at last and, surpassing time, warms my tranquil heart.” KnowsHumansHeartMomentsLightLastsLife IsSidesDestinyChangedWindProjectsFlowPerfectionEternityBrilliantBarsCupsTeaRisingTemplesSplitsPaleJewelsSuccessionUnfamiliarTranquilMossCups Of TeaDealingsSurpassingFoliageCamellias Author:Muriel Barbery
“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?” KnowsHeartMomentsDiesFoundAbilityKnow HowGreatnessGreat ThingsTeaRitualInfinityDoomedAspireJewelsSmall ThingsAbility To See Author:Muriel Barbery
“I thought: pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language.” KnowsSpiritLanguagePoorPityEnchantmentPoor In Spirit Author:Muriel Barbery
“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.” IfsThinkingKnowsFeelsHas BeensBookMatterSeemsAbleTogetherReadingLinesFoolSpringEssenceMadInvisibleBranchesStomachStrandsMenusWeaving Book:The Elegance of the Hedgehog Source: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
“..if you dread tomorrow, it's because you don't know how to build the present, you tell yourself you can deal with it tomorrow, and it's a lost cause anyway because tomorrow always ends up becoming today, don't you see?” IfsKnowsEndsTodayLostCausesDealsKnow HowBecomingTomorrowDreadLost Cause Author:Muriel Barbery
“I may know that the world is an ugly place, I still don't want to see it.” KnowsWorldWantMayStillsUgly Author:Muriel Barbery
“I know that they're all unhappy because nobody loves the right person the way they should and because they don't understand that it's really their own self that they're mad at.” KnowsWayShouldPersonsSelfMadUnhappyRight Person Author:Muriel Barbery
“People think that children don't know anything. It's enough to make you wonder if grownups were ever children once upon a time.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsChildrenEnoughWonderOnce Upon A TimeGrownups Author:Muriel Barbery
“If, in our world, there is any chance of becoming the person you haven't yet become...will I know how to seize that chance, turn my life into a garden that will be completely different from my forebears'?” IfsKnowsWorldPersonsDifferentTurnsChanceKnow HowHavensBecomingGardenOur World Author:Muriel Barbery
“or the first time in my life I understood the meaning of the word never. And it's really awful. You say the word a hundred times a day but you don't really know what you're saying until you're faced with a real "never again."” KnowsFirstsRealUnderstoodHundredFirst TimeAwful Author:Muriel Barbery
“'Life has meaning and we grown-ups know what it is' is the universal lie that everyone is supposed to believe. Once you become an adult and you realize that's not true, it's too late.” KnowsBelieveLyingRealizingLateAdultsUniversalToo Late Author:Muriel Barbery
