Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable QUOTES

1 " I experienced so intense a moment of despair, frustration and rebelliousness that irony, my most trusted weapon of defense, became instead another scalpel for probing my own wounds. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

2 " My hints had, undoubtedly and unintentionally, made her feel insecure, guilty, inadequate, afraid that she was losing whatever it was that turned me on; in short, it aroused all the self-doubt so readily awakened in women after thousands of years of servitude. Hence my zeal in denying the effects of time was abetted by Laura's complicity. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

3 " 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. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

4 " Like all Americans, he had no talent for bowing to the inevitable. The word ‘impossible’ is not in his vocabulary. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

5 " To 'live', to be truly alive, it is not enough simply to breathe, to suffer, nor even to be happy; life is a secret that cannot be discovered on one’s own. True living is done in pairs. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

6 " The dominant strain of the twentieth century, whether emanating from Marx or Freud, has been self-awareness; we have lost the art of forgetting ourselves. Which means we have little chance of being happy, since so much of happiness consists of inner peace; of playing ostrich, in fact. To say nothing of the fact that all this psychological self-consciousness is rather vulgar... "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

7 " Laura is adorable, father. But she is made for enjoyment of life, for gaiety, happiness. You must realize that these are not the qualities upon which one can found a family... "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

8 " Remember - when you came back from the states thirty years ago, and you had caught on to the importance of putting up a good front, and keeping it up at all costs. Yes, and you make a bundle of those wrapping papers of yours! And now you yourself are nothing but wrapping paper. With nothing inside. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

9 " Could it have come for me, too, the time to 'save my honor'? How many men leave an 'overly demanding' woman to duck the moment of truth when their inadequacy can no longer be disguised? [...] 'She doesn’t excite me anymore' neatly passes the buck by leaving the woman feeling she is to blame, that she has somehow lost her attraction, her sex appeal, whatever; it is a ploy typical of the aging cock-of-the-walk whose strutting and preening are meant to conceal his private failings. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

10 " What I dread is the moment when her understanding turns to compassion, and her tenderness, her concern, come dangerously close to pity and maternal solicitude as to change the very nature of our lovemaking. “No, no, my darling, we mustn’t, you will strain yourself....” p41 ... Of course I should have spoken to her frankly, from the first. But to name the Devil is to conjure him up. And the moods of lovers are contagious. There is that hazardous balance between them where the misery of the one brings on the insecurity and anxiety of the other; things quickly go from bad to worse , until they can no longer speak about it and the silence grows like a wall between them. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

11 " What I dread is the moment when her understanding turns to compassion, and her tenderness, her concern, come dangerously close to pity and maternal solicitude as to change the very nature of our lovemaking. 'No, no, my darling, we mustn’t, you will strain yourself...' Of course I should have spoken to her frankly, from the first. But to name the Devil is to conjure him up. And the moods of lover are contagious. There is that hazardous balance between them where the misery of the one brings on the insecurity and anxiety of the other; things quickly go from bad to worse, until they can no longer speak about it and the silence grows like a wall between them. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

12 " You are far too well informed a man to pretend that you don’t know what little game you are playing. If you have presentiments of death, it is because of certain wishes. You desire to escape sexual impotence - impotence, in short - and you wish for death to save you from all that. It is one of the virility’s favorite ploys. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

13 " You see? Silbermann assures us that this technique has added years to the sexual life of his patients. But, of course, one must be a born fighter to profit by it. In this respect we are rather backward in France; a certain lack of persistence and determination causes us to lose out in the race of pleasure. It’s different in the United States. There are people band together, organize group therapy sessions, make pornographic films, found institutes and clinics, all dedicated to combating the Decline of erection. America is the largest true phallocracy. By comparison, we French are a sorry lot of quitters. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

14 " Also, for the man, there is still one more loophole. If, by the grace of God, she’s humble by nature and and ready to assume guilt, she might just think: ‘I don’t turn him on,’ or ‘He doesn’t love me any longer.’ And there it is, then understanding between the sexes, my friend. You can always blame it on her. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

15 " There is, of course, Niemen, in Switzerland, and Horsschitt, in Germany... It all depends on what you mean by ‘love’. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

16 " 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. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

17 " — When a man close to sixty decides to break with a young woman whom he loves, and who loves him, what would you call it?
— Damned stupidity, sir.
— Yes, damned stupidity; in other words, ‘good sense’. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

18 " — During all those years, you know, in the maquis, I was always asking myself whether it was for liberty, for France, that I was risking my life, or whether it was simply to keep up my self-image. Give me a whiskey, will you?
I sat down.
— Anyhow, I am not going to change that image. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

19 " — I'm a man of honor, Lili; of honor.
— Yes, and the world ain't what it used to be, is it Colonel?
— But I haven't changed, Lili, I refuse to change. I won't throw in the sponge. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable

20 " Of course it’s always possible to gain time, put up a front, try to last it out - how long, a year, eighteen months? I’d rather leave the arena before I am beaten to a pulp and have to be dragged out. One has to know how to accept the inevitable. "

― Romain Gary , Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable