Quotes from Michel Houellebecq

Des créatures crasseuses et méchantes, brutales, parfaitement stupides, qui vivent dans le sang, la haine et leurs propres excréments. Ils s'agglutinent là, dans la nuit, comme de grosses mouches à merde autour de vitrines de luxe désertes.

De eeuwigheid van de kindertijd is een korte eeuwigheid, maar dat weet hij nog niet; het landschap glijdt voorbij.

Elämä ilman lukemista on vaarallista, silloin on pakko tyytyä elämiseen ja siinä on omat riskinsä.

I spent whole afternoons at Bon Marché looking at pullovers, there was no sense in going on like that.

Ihmistä voi arvostella monestakin syystä, mutta yhtä asiaa häneltä ei voi riistää: hän on kiistatta nerokas nisäkäs.

Il n'y a pas beaucoup à gagner dans ce monde

Haluja lietsotaan sietämättömyyteen saakka ja sitten tehdään niiden toteuttaminen yhä mahdottomammaksi; se oli ainoa periaate, jolle länsimainen yhteiskunta perustui.

This evening, sprawled on the sofa, this animal with whom he shared one half of his genetic code had overstepped the unspoken boundaries of decent human conversation.

In this apartment, as in his whole life now, he knew he would always feel as though he were staying in a hotel.

He trusted that I would have a very pleasant stay: it was so peaceful, and the meals were delicious. As he said it, I realized that he was expressing not just a belief, but a hope, because he was one of those people, and you don't see them every day, who take an instinctive pleasure in the happiness of their fellow men – that he was, in other words, a nice guy.

The sun shone on the meadows and woods like a trusted employee.

The greater the proportion of pure morality in a particular system, the happier and more enduring the society.

Animals live without feeling the least need of justification, as do the crushing majority of men. They live because they live, and then I suppose they die because they die, and for them that's all there is to it.

Historically, such human beings have existed. Human beings who have worked - worked hard - all their lives with no motive other than love and devotion, who have literally given their lives for others, out of love and devotion; human beings who have no sense of having made any sacrifice, who cannot imagine any way of life other than giving their lives for others, out of love and devotion. In general, such human beings are generally women.

Nietzsche avait vu juste, avec son flair de vieille pétasse, le christianisme était au fond une religion féminine.

Una vida volcada hacia una meta deja poco sitio para el recuerdo

Eine ideale Lüge besteht aus der Aneinanderreihung verschiedener wahrer Versatzstücke, an denen man bestimmte Auslassungen vornimmt; im Grunde genommen setzt sie sich im Wesentlichen aus Auslassungen in Verbindung mit einigen wohldosierten Übertreibungen zusammen.

Vivre sans lecture c'est dangereux, il faut se contenter de la vie, ça peut amener à prendre des risques.

Les hommes en géneral ne savent pas vivre, ils n'ont aucune vraie familiarité avec la vie, ils ne s'y sentent jamais tout à fait à leur aise, aussi poursuivent-ils différents projets, plus ou moins ambitieux plus ou moins grandioses c'est selon, en géneral bien entendu ils échouent et parviennent à la conclusion qu'ils aurait mieux fait, tout simplement, de vivre, mais en général il est trop tard.

The Enlightened One, if he had meditated on it, would not necessarily have rejected a technical solution.

Als ik de liefde niet heb begrepen, wat heb ik er dan aan om de rest te begrijpen?

Päinvastoin kuin nautinto, halu itsessään tuottaa kärsimystä, vihaa ja onnettomuutta.

liberal individualism triumphed as long as it undermined intermediate structures such as nations, corporations, castes, but when it attacked that ultimate social structure, the family, and thus the birthrate, it signed its own death warrant; Muslim dominance was a foregone conclusion).

Like all countries in Western Europe, Spain, engaged in a deadly process of increasing productivity, had gradually rid itself of all low-skilled jobs that had previously helped to keep life a little less unpleasant, and in doing so had condemned the majority of its population to mass unemployment.