Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Joris-Karl Huysmans

Quote by Joris-Karl Huysmans

“he felt a glow of pleasure at the idea that here he would be too far out for the tidal wave of Parisian life to reach him, and yet near enough for the proximity of the capital to strengthen him in his solitude.”

Quote by Joris-Karl Huysmans

Work

Against Nature

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joris-Karl Huysmans

Joris-Karl Huysmans was a French novelist known for his exploration of themes such as decadence and aestheticism. His most celebrated novel, 'À la recherche du temps perdu', is regarded as a masterpiece of French literature. more

You May Also Like

“He worked at the hospital as a general surgeon, and she'd ended up asking him lots of questions about the sort of stuff he did (on that particular day he'd removed an appendix and a bile duct). She also asked about normal post-surgery recovery time and procedure times, and he had been very reassuring. They'd ended up talking for a very long time about all sorts of things, which he seemed to sense she'd been in need of. He'd said something about not over-googling health symptoms. And that had led to them talking about social media- he believed that the more people were connected on social media, the lonelier society became. That's why everyone hates each other nowadays, he reckoned. Because they are overloaded with non-friend friends Ever heard about Dunbar's number?”

“Asceticism. "(from Greek askeō: “to exercise,” or “to train”), the practice of the denial of physical or psychological desires in order to attain a spiritual ideal or goal. Hardly any religion has been without at least traces or some delphic features of asceticism. Enlightenment, meditation, yoga, natural, free, sanctuary, homelessness, technology, spirituality, depth, mindfulness, function, society, benefit.”

“Here I sat down and closed my eyes, tilting my face towards the sun and listening to the gentle lap of the blue water against the rocks. Perhaps it was my destiny, after all, to be always alone: that was the tragic, self-dramatizing thought that came to me, and in some paradoxical way it also brought me a kind of comfort, reconciling me to what seemed, at that moment, to be my essential nature: introverted, melancholy and solitary.”

“Idet hun forsigtigt havde banet sig vej gennem græsset, da hun med ét kommet til en lysning midt inde i det, en ganske lille åben plads, som en alkove med gyldengrønne omhæng. Hun havde pludselig følt, at hun her var lige i hjertet af sit kongerige, hun var blevet så lykkelig bevæget derved. Ak, mon hun kunne finde det hellige hemmelighedsfulde sted igen? Hvis hun fandt det, ville hun stå ganske stille derinde, skjult for hele verden.”