Quotes from Elena Ferrante

And so, in spite of his virtues, he was a frivolous, superficial man, an animal organism who dripped sweat and fluids and left behind, like the residue of a careless pleasure, living material conceived, nourished, shaped within female bellies.

I would have don't anything for her, on that morning of reconciliation: run away from home, leave the neighborhood, sleep in farmhouses, feed on roots, descend into the sewers through the grates, never turn back, not even if it was cold, not even if it rained.

Vi imagens rápidas e apagadas na minha cabeça, frase inteiras pronunciadas rapidamente, um sussurro. Me dei conta de que não vinham corretamente os tempos verbais, culpa daquele despertar desordenado. O tempo é um respiro, pensei, hoje sou eu, daqui a pouco minha filha, tinha acontecido com a minha mãe, com todas as minhas antepassadas, talvez ainda acontecesse a elas — a elas e a mim, simultaneamente, acontecerá.

El único problema ha sido siempre la agitación de la cabeza. No puedo detenerla, siempre tengo que hacer, rehacer, cubrir, descubrir, reforzar, y luego, de repente, deshacer, romper.

But stamped on her face was also regret that she had been wrong in her assessment. In those weeks she felt humiliated at having always ascribed a power to things that in the current hierarchies were insignificant: the alphabet, writing, books. Only then—I think today—did she, who seemed so disillusioned, so adult, come to the end of her childhood.

It wasn't my mother's laugh, the obscene laughter of a woman who knows. In Nella there was something chaste and yet vulgar, it was the laugh of an aging virgin that asailed me and pushed me to laugh, too, but in a forced way. [...] I saw myself growing old, with that laugh of malicious innocence in my breast. I thought: I'll end up laughing like that, too.

We two are made like that, when we have good thoughts we're pretty, but we turn ugly with mean ones, we have to get them out of our heads.

Buoni o cattivi, gli uomini credono tutti che a ogni loro impresa devi metterli su un altare come san Giorgio che ammazza il drago.

With greater or less ability we fabricate fictions not so that the false will seem true but to tell the most unspeakable truth with absolute faithfulness through the fiction.

La nuova carne viva ripeteva la vecchia per gioco, eravamo una catena di ombre che andava da sempre in scena con la stessa carica di amore, di odio, di voglie e di violenza.

Disse che la faccia schifosa delle cose non bastava a scrivere un romanzo: senza fantasia non pareva una faccia vera, ma una maschera.

Ahead of us were many hours when no one in our families would look for us. When I think of the pleasure of being free, I think of the start of that day, of coming out of the tunnel and finding ourselves on a road that went straight as far as the eye could see, the road that, according to what Rino had told Lila, if you got to the end arrived at the sea. I felt joyfully open to the unknown.

el más engañado era yo, engañado por mí mismo...

Questi tradimenti, mormorò, se uno non li viene a sapere al momento giusto non servono, quando sei innamorato perdoni tutto. Perchè i tradimenti abbiano il loro peso effettivo deve prima maturare un poco di disamore.

Voksne venter på i morgen, bevæger sig i en nutid bag hvilken der er i går eller i forgårs eller højst sidste uge: Resten vil de ikke tænke på. Børn kender ikke betydningen af i går, af i forgårs eller sågar af i morgen, alt er lige nu; gaden er den, døråbningen er den, trapperne er dem, det er mor, det er far, det er dagen, det er natten.

My compliance without participation began to disorientate him. I thought, as always in those circumstances, that I should pretend a yearning and uncontrolled passion or push him away. But I didn't dare to either one or the other: I was afraid I would throw up, because the result would be earthquake-like waves. I had only to wait.

desde chico no sólo sabía que no era lo que los demás creían, sino tampoco lo que yo mismo creía ser. Me decía: soy otra cosa, una cosa que permanece oculta en mis venas, no tiene nombre y espera. Pero no sabía qué era esa cosa y, sobre todo, no sabía cómo podía ser yo...

Ci metti sopra le chiese, i conventi, i libri - sembrano così importanti, i libri, disse con sarcasmo, tu ci hai dedicato tutta la tua vita - e il male sfonda il pavimento e sbuca dove non te l'aspetti.

scoprii in pubblico quanto avessi imparato assistendo a quello sforzo doloroso di scavo. Parlai di come avessi cercato da sempre, per impormi, di essere maschio nell'intelligenza – io mi sono sentita inventata dai maschi, colonizzata dalla loro immaginazione, esordivo tutte le sere

I became anxious if I lost him, I was happy when I saw him return. In other words I loved him and new it and was content to love him.

Yes, it's Lila who makes writing difficult. My life forces me to imagine what hers would have been if what happened to me had happened to her, what use she would have made of my luck.

Un libro, un articolo potevano far rumore, ma il rumore si levava anche dai guerrieri antichi prima della battaglia e se non si accompagnava a una forza reale e a una violenza senza misura era solo teatro.

If she wants Marcello Solara, I will resign myself. I love her so much that if she's happy with someone else I will withdraw and between us everything will remain as it is now. But if she wants me--if she wants me--there's no help for it, you must give her to me.

Ognuno si racconta la vita come gli fa comodo».