Quotes from Elena Ferrante

The whole future---I thought---will be that way, life lives together with the damp odor of the land of the dead, attention with inattention, passionate leaps of the heart along with abrupt losses of meaning.

There is a poverty that makes us all cruel.

In the end she read it. It seemed to me that she shrank, as if I had unloaded a weight on her. And I had the impression that she was making a painful effort to free from some corner of herself the old Lila, the one who read, wrote, drew, made plans spontaneously—the naturalness of an instinctive reaction. When she succeeded, everything seemed pleasantly light.

lo que le pasa a las personas: llevamos dentro demasiadas cosas y eso nos hincha, nos rompe.

The blood spurted from his neck and hit a copper pot hanging on the wall.

Recuerda que estamos aquí, ahora, juntos, me dijo, lo demás es un telón de fondo y cambiará

Is it possible that in all those years she left me nothing of herself, or, worse, that I didn't want to keep anything of her? It is. This

I always have to prove that I can be better

Los buenos sentimientos son frágiles, conmigo el amor no resiste. No resiste el amor por un hombre, ni siquiera resiste el amor por los hijos, no tarda en agujerearse.

She grumbled, she said sarcastically that men place such an enormous importance on fucking, she laughed: not Marcello - although even he doesn't joke - but Michele, who went crazy, he's been obsessed with me for a long time, and even runs after the shadow of my shadow.

Estas traiciones, murmuró, si no llegas a saberlas en el momento adecuado, no sirven, cuando estás enamorado lo perdonas todo. Para que las traiciones tengan su peso efectivo, antes debe madurar un poco el desamor.

Fu in quell'occasione che mi convinsi che niente potesse fermarla, e che anzi ogni sua disobbedienza avesse sbocchi che per la meraviglia toglievano il fiato.

Yet here she was insisting that I stay with her, to keep me from who knows what stormy sea, from who knows what abyss or precipice, all dangers that at that moment were represented in her eyes by Antonio. But staying near her meant staying in her world, becoming completely like her. And if I became like her, who would be right for me if not Antonio?

El amor no solo no tiene ojos, sino que también le faltan los oídos

No se escribe por escribir, se escribe para hacer daño a quien se quiere hacer daño. Un daño de palabras contra un daño de puñetazos, patadas e instrumentos de muerte.

En las conversaciones con mis hijas oigo palabras o frases no pronunciadas. Ellas a veces se enojan, me dicen mamá, yo no lo he dicho, lo estás diciendo tú, te lo has inventado. Pero no invento nada, me basta con escuchar, lo no dicho es más elocuente que lo dicho.

El sueño de progreso sin límites es, en realidad, una pesadilla llena de ferocidad y muerte.

Cada cual se organiza el recuerdo como le conviene.

Olhei para ela, confusa. Com quase treze anos, não sabíamos nada de instituições, leis, justiça. Repetíamos, e às vezes fazíamos com convicção o que tínhamos ouvido e visto à nossa volta desde a primeira infância. A justiça não se realizava na porrada?

Solo en las malas novelas la gente piensa siempre lo correcto, dice siempre lo correcto, todo efecto tiene su causa, hay simpáticos y antipáticos, buenos y malos, al final todo te consuela

In the crush men used the women to play silent games with themselves. One stared ironically at a dark-haired girl to see if she would lower her gaze. One, with his eyes, caught a bit of lace between two buttons of a blouse, or harpooned a strap. Others passed the time looking out the window into cars for a glimpse of an uncovered leg, the play of muscles as a foot pushed break or clutch, a hand absentmindedly scratching the inside of a thigh.

No es el barrio el que está enfermo, no es Nápoles, sino el planeta, es el universo, o los universos. La habilidad consiste en ocultar u ocultarse el verdadero estado de las cosas.

El mundo está prodigiosamente cambiado y les pertenece cada vez más a ellas, cada vez menos a mí [...] lo que cuenta son estas muchachas tan competentes que no se han encontrado ni una de las dificultades con las que yo he tenido que vérmelas. Tienen unos modales, unas voces, unas exigencias, unas pretensiones, una conciencia de sí mismas que yo ni siquiera hoy me atrevo a permitirme.

Lina es valiente, incluso demasiado. Pero no sabe adaptarse a la realidad, es incapaz de aceptar a los demás y aceptarse a sí misma