Quotessence
Home / Authors / Nicole Krauss
Nicole Krauss

Nicole Krauss Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllWorldIfsHistory Of LoveWritingLoveSometimesThinkingMadeFeelsSaidLongMomentsBookFirstsSadnessWayFeelingsLittlesLonelinessNeeds

Famous Nicole Krauss Quotes

“She was gone, and all that was left was the space you'd grown around her, like a tree that grows around a fence. For a long time, it remained hollow. Years, maybe. And when at last it was filled again, you knew that the new love you felt for a woman would have been impossible without Alma. If it weren't for her, there would never have been an empty space, or the need to fill it.”

IfsNeedsYearsLongHas BeensLastsLeftGrowsFeltSpaceGoneImpossibleTreeLove YouLong TimeEmptyFilledFenceHollowEmpty SpaceHistory Of Love
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“Maybe the first time you saw her you were ten. She was standing in the sun scratching her legs. Or tracing letters in the dirt with a stick. Her hair was being pulled. Or she was pulling someone's hair. And a part of you was drawn to her, and a part of you resisted--wanting to ride off on your bicycle, kick a stone, remain uncomplicated. In the same breath you felt the strength of a man, and a self-pity that made you feel small and hurt. Part of you thought: Please don't look at me. If you don't, I can still turn away. And part of you thought: Look at me.”

IfsMenFeelsFirstsLooksMadeStillsI CanSelfTurnsFeltHurtSunSawsHairPleaseTenFirst TimeStandingStonesLettersBreathsSticksLegsPityKicksDirtPullingLook At MeBicycleSelf PityTracingUncomplicatedHistory Of Love
Book:The History of Love: A Novel
Create image

“If at large gatherings or parties, or around people with whom you feel distant, your hands sometimes hang awkwardly at the ends of your arms - i you find yourself at a loss for what do with them, overcome with sadness that comes when you recognize the foreignnes of your own body - it's because your hands remember a time when the division between mind and body, brain and heart, what's inside and what's outside, was so much less.”

PeopleIfsFeelsMindHeartEndsSometimesBodyHandsRememberLossPartyBrainSadnessArmsOvercomingFinding YourselfDivisionGatheringMind And BodyHeart And BrainHistory Of Love
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“Now we'd known each other for two years, the side of my calf was touching his shins, and his stomach was against my ribs. He said, "I don't think it's end of world to be my girlfriend." I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It took seven languages to make me; it would be nice if I could have spoken just one.”

IfsThinkingWorldYearsSaidTwoEndsWould BeLanguageSidesKnownNiceMouthsSevenGirlfriendJust OneIf I CouldTwo YearsTouchingStomachBeing NiceMy GirlfriendRibsCalvesBe My Girlfriend
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“When you are young, you think it's going to be solved by love. But it never is. Being close -- as close as you can get -- to another person only makes clear that impassable distance between you.' If being in love only made people more lonely, why would everyone want it so much?' Because of the illusion. You fall in love, it's intoxicating, and for a little while you feel like you've actually become one with the other person. Merged souls and so on. You think you'll never be lonely again.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantFeelsLittlesPersonsMadeSoulYoungFallClearLike YouIllusionLonelyDistanceFalling In LoveBeing In Love
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“("Let's stand under a tree," she said. "Why?" "Because it's nicer." "Maybe you should sit on a chair, and I'll stand above you, like they always do with husbands and wives." "That's stupid." "Why's it stupid?" "Because we're not married." "Should we hold hands?" "We can't." "But why?" "Because, people will know." "Know what?" "About us." "So what if they know?" "It's better when it's a secret." "Why?" "So no one can take it from us.")”

PeopleIfsKnowsShouldSaidHandsSecretWifeTreeStupidHusbandMarriedChairsWhat IfHusband And WifeHolding Hands
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“I’ve always liked the feeling of traveling light; there is something in me that wants to feel I could leave wherever I am, at any time, without any effort. The idea of being weighed down made me uneasy, as if I lived on the surface of a frozen lake and each new trapping of domestic life - a pot, a chair, a lamp - threatened to be the thing that sent me through the ice.”

IfsWantFeelsMadeIdeasFeelingsLightEffortSurfaceIceLakesChairsPotThreatenedFrozenLampsUneasyDomestic LifeFrozen Lake
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“Sometimes just to paint a head you have to give up the whole figure. To paint a leaf, you have to sacrifice the whole landscape. It might seem like you're limiting yourself at first, but after a while you realize that having a quarter of an inch of something you have a better chance of holding on to a certain feeling of the universe than if you pretended to be doing the whole sky.”

IfsGivingFirstsSometimesWholeFeelingsSeemsMightCertainUniverseRealizingChanceSacrificeSkyFiguresLike YouGiving UpPaintLandscapeQuartersInchesLeafsHolding OnLimiting YourselfHistory Of Love
Author:Nicole Krauss
Create image

“A couple months after my heart attack, fifty-seven years after I'd given it up, I started to write again. I did it for myself alone, not for anyone else, and that was the difference. It didn't matter if I found the words, and more than that, I knew it would be impossible to find the right ones.”

IfsWritingYearsHeartMatterWould BeFoundGivenDifferencesImpossibleMonthsCoupleMy HeartSevenFiftySeven YearsHeart Attack
Book:The History of Love: A Novel
Create image