Quotes from Carsten Jensen

Their eyes persecuted him everywhere, eventually following him all the way into the darkness around his bed and into his dreams, like a madness that threatened to overpower him.

What was he thinking about? He was old, but he hasn't found peace. Had he realized that a long life didn't automatically bestow wisdom?

But I could feel resentment inside me, and I knew it would keep growing until it changed into something far more dangerous.

There was plenty for the eye to feast on, but nothing for the soul. He had a hunger for something that no sky could satisfy. Somewhere on the planet there had to be a different kind of light.

Beyond the reef's white surf the water was a deep blue, as if in shadow, but in here it was emerald so dazzling you'd think the sand below contained a source of energy as strong as the sun.

Your roots aren't to be found in your childhood so much as in your child. It's he who provides your link to the world, and home is wherever he is.

Look at the swell. You'll not find a bigger swell anywhere. It has half the globe for its run-up. You're young. You have the whole world. Don't bother yourself with the past.

That's the strange thing about a good story. No pleasure if you can't share it." ? We, the Drowned

But that's how it is on a sailing ship, and in this respect its journey parallels that of life: simply knowing where you want to go isn't enough, because life is a windblown voyage, consisting mainly of the detours imposed by alternating calm and storm.

Life was like one big marching army. Death ran alongside and picked off a soldier here and there, but that didn't affect the army. Its march continued, and its size didn't seem to diminish. On the contrary, it grew on into eternity, so that no one was alone in death. Someone else would always follow. That was what counted. Such was the chain of life: unbreakable. But

Our fathers were often away. But then sometimes, out of the blue, they'd be gone forever. Often away and gone forever: the two phrases marked the difference between having a living father and a dead one. It wasn't a big difference, but it was big enough to make us cry when no one was looking. One

The constant bombardment and the randomness with which death scythed us down had exhausted us...

They all lived so steeped in fear that the losses they had yet to suffer had already consumed them.

Her grief was a burden so heavy, he came close to collapsing under it, and yet he couldn't lay it down.

She still held back her tears, as if subjecting herself to some terrible endurance test.

They were probably scared of him and so they did what boys do around any object of fear: they went up close, pointed a finger, gave it a nickname, and masked their terror with roaring laughter.

The whole starry sky seemed to be moving in the same direction he was, like a shimmering flock of birds migrating south through the night.

He could see the Milky Way running parallel with the street, a celestial track of shining pebbles forging through the wasteland of the night.

The stares that had haunted and followed the terrifying killer everywhere he turned had been nothing but a boy's imitation of a mother's reproachful look. No, Herman would never guess what had driven him out of town. We hadn't accused him of a man's murder. We'd accused him of a seagull's.

But hope stops time, and time only heals when it passes.

Como marinheiros, todos temíamos o afogamento, mas nenhum de nós alguma vez borrara as calças quando uma tempestade arrancara o mastro e o cordame ou uma onda esmagara a amurada e limpara o convés. Era essa a diferença: o mar respeitava a nossa masculinidade. Os canhões não.

When old men met, they talked about the sea—

Being Danish, all you have is your supple grip and your light touch. There are plenty of places in the world where the guest who extends a weaponless hand is the most welcome. A man from a small and weak country is as good as stateless. Just wave your Danish flag. They won't see a white cross against a red background as a crusading banner; they'll just see it as a white cloth. So wrap yourself in its innocence, lao-yeh .

The schnapps had worked its blessed magic. Drunk now, we surrendered to a blankness born of terror. We sailed on a black sea and we had only one goal: not to look down and drown in it.