Quotes from Ágota Kristóf

No book, no matter how sad, can be as sad as a life.

You will forget. Life is like that. Everything goes in time. Memories blur, pain diminishes. I remember my wife as one remembers a bird or a flower

And death hasn't come. It never does come when you call it. It enjoys torturing us. I've been calling for it for years and it pays me no attention

Don't be sentimental. Everything dies

I go to bed and before falling asleep I talk to Lucas in my head the way I have for many years. What I tell him is just about what I usually do. I tell him that if he's dead he's lucky and I'd very much like to be in his place. I tell him that he got the better deal, that it is I who is pulling the greater weight. I tell him that life is totally useless, that it's nonsense, an aberration, infinite suffering, the invention of a non-God whose evil surpasses understanding.

Seen nothing? Idiot! We have all the work and all the worry: children to feed, wounds to tend. Once the war is over, you men are all heroes. The dead: heroes. The survivors: heroes. The maimed: heroes. That's why you invented war. It's your war. You wanted it, so get on with it – heroes, my ass!

Where are they now? – The dead are nowhere and everywhere

On our way home we throw the apples, the biscuits, the chocolate and the coins in the tall grass by the roadside. It is impossible to throw away the stroking on our hair

Every one of us commits a fatal mistake sometime in his life. When we realize it, the damage is already done

We weren't trying to be kind. We've brought you these things because you absolutely need them. That's all.' -- Ágota Kristóf. The Notebook

People are cruel. They like to kill. It's the war that has taught them that. And there are explosives lying around everywhere

Le parole che definiscono i sentimenti sono molto vaghe; è meglio evitare il loro impiego e attenersi alle descrizioni degli oggetti, degli esseri umani e di se stessi, vale a dire alla descrizione fedele dei fatti.

It is easier to give than to receive, is that it? Pride is a sin, Father

Physical wounds don't matter when I receive them. But if I had to inflict them on someone else, that would wound me in a way I couldn't bear

Death will obliterate everything soon

Mais vous venez de dire : « La douleur diminue, les souvenirs s'estompent. » L'insomniaque lève les yeux sur Lucas : — Diminuer, s'estomper, je l'ai dit, oui, mais non pas disparaître.

Para decidir si algo está 'bien' o 'mal', tenemos una regla muy sencilla: la redacción debe ser verdadera. Debemos escribir lo que vemos, lo que oímos, lo que hacemos.

My walls no longer protect me. They never protected me. Their solidity is mere illusion, their whiteness is stained

Nous écrirons : « Nous mangeons beaucoup de noix », et non pas : « Nous aimons les noix », car le mot « aimer » n'est pas sûr, il manque de précision et d'objectivité. […] Les mots qui définissent les sentiments sont très vagues; il vaut mieux éviter leur emploi et s'en tenir à la description des objets, des êtres humains et de soi-même, c'est-à-dire à la description fidèles des faits.

It is impossible to throw away the stroking on our hair.

Then why are you begging? – To find out what effect it has and to observe people's reaction

Later, with time, we no longer need a shawl over our eyes or grass in our ears. The one playing the blind man simply turns his gaze inward, and the deaf one shuts his ears to all sounds

Crying is no use, you know. We never cry, even though we aren't men yet, like you

It's hardly matters whether it's true or false. The point is the slander. People love scandal