1
" We live, I suppose, in the unconfessed hope that the rules will at some point be broken, along with the normal course of things and custom and history, and that this will happen to us, that we will experience it, that we — that is, I alone — will be the ones to see it. We always aspire, I suppose, to being the chosen ones, and it is unlikely otherwise that we would be prepared to live out the entire course of an entire life, which, however short or long, gradually gets the better of us. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)
5
" Alsof ik nu, terwijl ik het gekabbel begreep, de rivier geloofde, en door te geloven dat ik haar begreep samen met haar herhaalde terwijl ik langzaam in slaap viel met het open oog van dit land dat voor sommigen een vaderland is, zachtjes en loom en met het open oog waarmee ik besmet ben en het schijnsel dat er niet is: Ik ben de rivier, ik ben de rivier en daarom de draad van de continuïteit tussen levenden en doden net als de verhalen die 's nachts tegen ons praten, ik lijk op de tijden en ook op de feiten, ik ben de rivier. Maar de rivier is de rivier, en verder niets. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)
6
" One should never tell anyone anything or give information or pass on stories or make people remember beings who have never existed or trodden the earth or traversed the world or who, having done so, are now almost safe in uncertain, one-eyed oblivion. Telling is almost always done as a gift, even when the story contains and injects some poison, it is also a bond, a granting of trust, and rare is the trust or confidence that is not sooner or later betrayed, rare is the close bond that does not grow twisted or knotted and, in the end become so tangled that a razor or knife is needed to cut it. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)
7
" Narrative horror, disgust. That's what drives him mad, I'm sure of it, what obsesses him. I've known other people with the same aversion, or awareness, and they weren't even famous, fame is not a deciding factor, there are many individuals who experience their life as if it were the material of some detailed report, and they inhabit that life pending its hypothetical or future plot. They don't give it much thought, it's just a way of experiencing things, companionable, in a way, as if there were always spectators or permanent witnesses, even of their most trivial goings-on and in the dullest of times. Perhaps it's a substitute for the old idea of the omnipresence of God, who saw every second of each of our lives, it was very flattering in a way, very comforting despite the implicit threat and punishment, and three or four generations aren't enough for Man to accept that his gruelling existence goes on without anyone ever observing or watching it, without anyone judging it or disapproving of it. And in truth there is always someone: a listener, a reader, a spectator, a witness, who can also double up as simultaneous narrator and actor: the individuals tell their stories to themselves, to each his own, they are the ones who peer in and look at and notice things on a daily basis, from the outside in a way; or, rather, from a false outside, from a generalised narcissism, sometimes known as "consciousness". That's why so few people can withstand mockery, humiliation, ridicule, the rush of blood to the face, a snub, that least of all ... I've known men like that, men who were nobody yet who had that same immense fear of their own history, of what might be told and what, therefore, they might tell too. Of their blotted, ugly history. But, I insist, the determining factor always comes from outside, from something external: all this has little to do with shame, regret, remorse, self-hatred although these might make a fleeting appearance at some point. These individuals only feel obliged to give a true account of their acts or omissions, good or bad, brave, contemptible, cowardly or generous, if other people (the majority, that is) know about them, and those acts or omissions are thus encorporated into what is known about them, that is, into their official portraits. It isn't really a matter of conscience, but of performance, of mirrors. One can easily cast doubt on what is reflected in mirrors, and believe that it was all illusory, wrap it up in a mist of diffuse or faulty memory and decide finally that it didn't happen and that there is no memory of it, because there is no memory of what did not take place. Then it will no longer torment them: some people have an extraordinary ability to convince themselves that what happened didn't happen and what didn't exist did. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)
11
" İnsan asla hiçbir şey anlatmamalı, bilgi de vermemeli, hikâye de aktarmamalı, hiç var olmamış, yeryüzüne ayak basmamış, dünyayı dolaşmamış ya da bu dünyadan geçmiş ama tek gözü kör, kararsız unutuşa gömülerek yarı yarıya kurtulmuş varlıkları da insanlara hatırlatmamalı. Anlatmak hemen her zaman bir armağandır, anlatılan hikâye zehir taşısa ve saçsa bile; aynı zamanda bir bağdır, güven duymaktır; er veya geç ihanete uğramayan güven ise nadirdir; dolanıp düğümlenmeyen, sonunda sıktığı için bıçak ya da jiletle kesilmesi gerekmeyen bağ da nadirdir. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)
16
" La vida no es contable, y resulta extraordinario que los hombres lleven todos los siglos de que tenemos conocimiento dedicados a ello, empeñados en contar lo que no se puede, sea en forma de mito, de poema épico, de crónica, anales, actas, leyenda o cantar de gesta, romances de ciego o corridos, de evangelio, santoral, historia, biografía, novela o elogio fúnebre, de película, de confesiones, memorias, de reportaje, da lo mismo. "
― Javier Marías , Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow, #1)