Quotes from Louis Ferdinand Céline

Viaggiare è utile, fa lavorare l'immaginazione. Tutto il resto non è che delusioni e fatiche. Il nostro viaggio è interamente immaginario. Ecco la sua forza. Va dalla vita alla morte.

Mon cÅ"ur au chaud, ce lapin, derrière sa petite grille des côtes, agité, blotti, stupide.

Far in the distance the tugboat whistled; its call passed the bridge, one more arch, then another, the lock, another bridge, farther and farther … It was summoning all the barges on the river, every last one, and the whole city and the sky and the countryside, and ourselves, to carry us all away, the Seine too —and that would be the end of us.

The beginning and end of all things is the lack of moderation! It started when men played fast and loose with their sense of proportion! With foreign exaggerations! When moderation's gone, power goes with it! It was inevitable! Is then everyone doomed? Why not? All of us? Definitely! Going to the dogs? No, running! A mad stampede!

We're never suspicious enough of words, they look like nothing much, not at all dangerous, just little puffs of air, little sounds the mouth makes, neither hot nor cold and easily absorbed, once they reach the ear, by the vast gray boredom of the brain. We're not suspicious enough of words, and calamity strikes.

We've no use for intellectuals in this outfit. What we need is chimpanzees. Let me give you a word of advice: never say a word to us about being intelligent. We will think for you, my friend. Don't forget it.

The poetry of heroism appeals irresistibly to those who don't go to a war, and even more to those whom the war is making enormously wealthy. It's always so.

One can't relive one's life. Forgiveness is not what's difficult one's always too ready to forgive. And it does no good, that's obvious.

Those who talk about the future are scoundrels. It is the present that matters. To evoke one's posterity is to make a speech to maggots.

The more one is hated, I find, the happier one is.