Home > Author > Amélie Nothomb
1 " Society conspires against her from early infancy. Her brain is steadily filled with plaster until it sets: ‘If you’re not married by the time you’re twenty-five, you’ll have good reason to be ashamed’; ‘if you laugh, you won’t look dignified’ ; ‘if your face betrays your feelings, you’ll look coarse’; ‘if you mention the existence of a single body hair, you’re repulsive’ ; ‘if a boy kisses you on the cheek in public, you’re a whore’; if you enjoy eating, you’re a pig’; ‘if you take pleasure in sleeping, you’re no better than a cow’; and so on.These precepts would be merely anecdotal if they weren’t taken so much to heart. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Stupeur et tremblements
2 " It is too sad . I must speak to him- The do you really ?- Sure . How can you expect things to get better , if we do not speak?- Earlier , you talked to Mr. Omochi . Do you feel that things have thus been arranged?- What is certain is that if we do not talk , there is no chance to solve the problem.- What seems more certain is that if we talk, there is serious risk of aggravating the situation. "
― Amélie Nothomb
3 " Language is accurate: you run for your life. If you are dying, leave. If you are suffering, move. There is no other law, only movement. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam
4 " Behind every work of art lies the enormous pretension of exhibiting one's vision of the world. If such obvious arrogance is not counterbalanced by the tribulations of doubt, all that remains is a monster who is to art what a fanatic is to faith. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Une Forme de vie
5 " My mind was not that of a conqueror, but that of a cow that spends its life chewing contentedly in the meadow of invoices, waiting for the train of eternal grace to pass by. How good it felt to exist without pride of ambition. To live in hibernation. "
6 " If a writer manages to be fascinating about his own novels, then there are only two possibilities: either he is merely voicing out loud what he wrote in his book, and he is a parrot; or he is explaining interesting things that he didn't discuss in his book, in which case the book in question is a failure since it does not live up to its claims. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Hygiène de l'assassin
7 " There is only one way to overcome the difficulty of writing, and that is to write. Thought only becomes effective and productive at the time of writing. "
8 " Il y a des beautés qui sautent aux yeux et d'autres qui sont écrites en hyéroglyphes: on met du temps à déchiffrer leur splendeur mais, quand elle est apparue, elle est plus belle que la beauté. "
9 " Para bailar, hay que merecerlo. Bailar sobre un escenario y delante de público constituye la mayor de las felicidades. A decir verdad, incluso sin público, incluso sin escenario, bailar es el colmo de la embriaguez. Una alegría tan profunda justifica los sacrificios más crueles. La educación que os damos aquí tiende a presentar la danza como lo que es: no un medio sino una recompensa. "
― Amélie Nothomb , The Book of Proper Names
10 " Fut-ce le fruit de mon imagination? Il me sembla voir passer sur le visage de notre voisin une expression que j'aurais pu traduire en ces termes: "Pourquoi te donnes-tu tant de mal? J'ai gagné, tu ne peux pas ne pas le savoir. Le simple fait que j'assiège chaque jour ton salon pendant deux heures n'en est-il pas la preuve? Si brillants que soient tes discours, tu ne pourras rien contre cette évidence: je suis chez toi et je t'emmerde. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Les Catilinaires
11 " Indubbiamente ciascun essere ha, nell'universo dei libri, un'opera che lo trasforma in lettore, posto che il destino favorisca il loro incontro. Quello che Platone disse della metà amorosa - l'altro che circola chissà dove e che conviene trovarlo, salvo restare incompleti fino al giorno del trapasso - è ancora più vero per il libri "
12 " La gêne est un étrange défaut du centre de gravité : n'est capable de l'éprouver qu'une personne dont le noyau est demeuré flottant. Les êtres solidement centrés ne comprennent pas de quoi il s'agit. La gêne suppose une hypertrophie de la perception de l'autre, d'où la politesse des gens gênés, qui ne vivent qu'en fonction d'autrui. "
― Amélie Nothomb , La nostalgie heureuse
13 " Che differenza c'è fra occhi che possiedono uno sguardo e occhi che ne sono sprovvisti? Questa differenza ha un nome: si chiama vita. La vita inizia laddove inizia lo sguardo. [...]Lo sguardo è una scelta. Chi guarda decide di soffermarsi su una determinata cosa e di escludere dunque all'attenzione il resto del proprio campo visivo. In questo senso lo sguardo, che è l'essenza della vita, è prima di tutto un rifiuto.Vivere vuol dire rifiutare. Chi accetta ogni cosa non è più vivo dell'orifizio di un lavandino. Per vivere bisogna essere capaci di non mettere sullo stesso piano, al di sopra di se stessi, la mamma e il soffitto. Bisogna rinunciare a uno dei due e decidersi di interessarsi o alla mamma o al soffitto. L'unica scelta sbagliata è quella di non fare una scelta. "
― Amélie Nothomb , Métaphysique des tubes
14 " Ce que l’on a vécu laisse dans la poitrine une musique : c’est elle qu’on s’efforce d’entendre à travers le récit. Il s’agit d’écrire ce son avec les moyens du langage. Cela suppose des coupes et des approximations. On élague pour mettre à nu le trouble qui nous a gagnés. "
15 " Je suis monstrueusement gentil, tellement gentil que si je me rencontrais, je vomirais "
16 " Paris est la seule ville au monde où il n'est pas nécessaire d'être heureux. "
17 " ليس لديك فكرة عما هو الحب : إنه مرضٌ يجعل الإنسان شريراً "
― Amélie Nothomb , Mercure
18 " La vieillesse est un naufrage. Mais je n'ai pas envie de voir couler le bateau. "
19 " ... sería fácil ser Dios si el mal no existiera, pero entonces tampoco habría ninguna necesidad de Dios "
― Amélie Nothomb , Acide sulfurique
20 " ... ya que la plaza quedaba vacante, ella, Pannonique, sería Dios. "
