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21 " It occurred to me that both Maria and I were on the run in the twenty-first century, just like George Sand whose name was also Amantine was on the run in the nineteenth century, and Maria whose name was also Zama was looking for somewhere to recover and rest in the twentieth. We were on the run from the lies concealed in the language of politics from myths about our character and our purpose in life. We were on the run from our own desires too probably, whatever they were. "
― Deborah Levy , Things I Don't Want to Know
22 " The story in this book was about a woman who has gifted her life to a man. This is not something to be tried at home but it is usually where it happens. "
― Deborah Levy , Real Estate
23 " When our father does the things he needs to do in the world, we understand it is his due. If our mother does the things she needs to do in the world, we feel she had abandoned us. It is a miracle she survives our mixed messages, written in society's most poisoned ink. It is enough to drive her mad. "
― Deborah Levy , The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography
24 " He did not ask me one single question, not even my name. It seemed that what he needed was a devoted, enchanting woman at his side to acquire his canapes for him and who understood that he was entirely the subject. "
25 " To not feel at home in her family home is the beginning of the bigger story of society and its female discontents. "
― Deborah Levy
26 " How do we set about not imagining something? "
― Deborah Levy , Hot Milk
27 " Smoking cheap Spanish filthy sock-tobacco under a pine tree was so much better than trying to hold it together on escalators. There was something comforting about being literally lost when I was lost in every other way... "
28 " We were doing everything we could to avoid the moment we would both go our separate ways. "
― Deborah Levy , The Man Who Saw Everything
29 " She is the wanderer, bum, émigré, refugee, deportee, rambler, strolling player. Sometimes she would like to be a settler, but curiosity, grief, and disaffection forbid it. "
― Deborah Levy , Swallowing Geography
30 " We have to mourn our dead, but we cannot let them take over our life. "
31 " Time has shattered, it's cracked like my lips. "
32 " It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple. "
33 " I confess that I am often lost in all the dimensions of time, that the past sometimes feels nearer than the present and I often fear the future has already happened. "
34 " She was not a poet. She was a poem. "
― Deborah Levy , Swimming Home
35 " I am not okay. Not at all and haven't been for some time. I did not tell her how discouraged I felt and that I was ashamed I was not more resilient and all the rest of it which included wanting a bigger life but that so far I had not been bold enough to make a bid for things I wanted to happen and I feared it was written in the stars that I might end up with a reduced life like hers... "
36 " Life is only worth living because we hope it will get better and we'll all get home safely. But you tried and you did not get home safely. You did not get home at all. "
37 " Life falls apart. We try to get a grip and hold it together. And then we realize we don't want to hold it together. "
38 " I will never stop grieving for my long-held wish for enduring love that does not reduce its major players to something less than they are. "
39 " When our father does the things he needs to do in the world, we understand it is his due. If our mother does the things she needs to do in the world, we feel she has abandoned us. It is a miracle she survives our mixed messages, written in society's most poisoned ink. It is enough to drive her mad. "
40 " As much as I try to make the past keep still and mind its manners, it moves and murmurs with me through every day. "