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Romain Gary

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“Not that I would describe fidelity as an exclusive contract, but rather a mutual devotion within shared assumptions. [...] She was greatly distressed, clearly more distressed than my condition warranted, and explained to me that when she was called and told of my accident she had been on the point of going to bed with a friend of mine. She left without a word to come to my side. That is what I mean by fidelity: putting love before pleasure.”

“حتی در ترانه های شکسپیر هم اثری از اُمّید نیست، چون در آن زمان سیفیلیس بیداد می کرد. اندوه عمیق نهفته در ترانه های شکسپیر از آنجاست که در آن روزها «عشق» همیشه با سیفیلیس متداعی بود. هفتاد درصد مردم به آن مبتلا بودند. زنگ عمیق اشعار عاشقانه به همین دلیل بود. چون عاقبتش دیوانگی بود یا کوری و هیچ علاجی هم نداشت. «عشق» چیزی بود فوق العاده «مهم»، درست مثل «مرگ» و «زندگی». امروز «عشق» اهمیت تراژیک خود را از دست داده است چون حسابش از «کوفت» جدا شده است”

“My body had become that of an old liar, and my most spontaneous transports had begun to end in calculated maneuverings and delayed deliveries. It was no longer a question of self-esteem or pride; when I thought of breaking up with her, it was not to avoid some sort of discomfiture: it was a question of authenticity. I loved Laura too much to drag myself along on crutches in the wake of our love.”

“Not that I had any intention of accosting him to propose any practical agreement. That would have demanded on Laura's part a degree of devotion, of understanding, a detached view of the purely animal act of love, such as could not be expected of so young a woman who was so subject conventions of comportment in a society that had always shown itself incapable of differentiating between love and sexuality.”

“My love, I caught sight of you a few moments ago, deep in conversation with a very sober-looking man, and I thought here is a bureaucrat sent by Reality to demand a full accounting, to investigate us on suspicion of fraud... on suspicion of being happy. Yes, there is something scandalous, something privileged and elitist about our love, because two people happily in love always turn their backs on the world; and so I am afraid. (From Laura’s note).”

“Slowly I felt flooded with that agonizing and poignant confusion that surely comes to all aging men experiencing their first adolescent love. I had no great wish to go on living; what was the point of a flawed happiness. According to Bonnard, the hardest moment of all is when the artist longs to keep on but he’s conscience tells him that one brushstroke more will spoil the entire painting. And man has to know when to stop.”