Quotes About Identity

Bat Parisul in lung si-n lat de jumatate de secol, astfel ca fiecare cartier imi evoca anumite lucruri, anumite intalniri, adesea ramase fara viitor. In memoria mea totul se amesteca: locurile si persoanele, amintirile intime, lecturile. Nu prefer anumite zone, ci pur si simplu uneori am ciudata senzatie ca as putea sa dau peste niste oameni pe care i-am vazut cu decenii in urma, impietriti si ramasi la varsta si infatisarea de atunci, asa cum se suprapun spatiile-timpuri in unele romane SF.

Somos classificados nas mais estranhas categorias, das quais nunca ouvimos falar, e que não correspondem ao que somos, em absoluto. Convocam-nos. Internam-nos. Bem que gostaríamos de saber o motivo.

Patrick Modiano

On vous classe dans des catégories bizarres dont vous n'avez jamais entendu parler et qui ne correspondent pas à ce que vous êtes réellement.

Si yo no diera fe de ello, no quedaría huella de la presencia de esa desconocida y de la de mi padre en un coche celular en febrero de 1942, en los Campos elíseos. Sólo serían personas —muertas o vivas— a las que se clasifica en la categoría de "individuos no identificados

Encore aujourd'hui, il m'arrive d'entendre, le soir, une voix qui m'appelle par mon prénom, dans la rue. Une voix rauque. Elle traîne un peu sur les syllabes et je la reconnais tout de suite: la voix de Louki.

Patrick Modiano

No era de verdad yo misma más que mientras escapaba.

He had us sit on a bench, then he posed us in front of a wall shaded by a row of trees, on Avenue Denfert-Rochereau. I've kept one of those shots. My girlfriend and I are sitting on the bench. To me it's as if they were other people, not us, because of the years that have passed, or maybe because of what Jansen saw through his lens, which we wouldn't have seen in a mirror at the time: two anonymous teenagers lost in Paris.

Son seres que dejan pocas huellas tras de sí. Personas casi anónimas. Nunca se alejan de ciertas calles de París, de ciertos paisajes de suburbio donde descubrí, por casualidad que habían vivido. Lo que se sabe de ellas se resume en una simple dirección. Y esta precisión topográfica contrasta con todo lo que se igonrará para siempre de su vida... ese vacío, ese bloque de desconocimiento y silencio.

We are the choices we make.

There was once an invisible man who had grown tired of being unseen. It was not that he was actually invisible. It was that people had become used to not seeing him. And if no one sees you, are you really there at all?"

You notice that he does not ask, Where am I?" says the Mayor's voice, moving out there, somewhere. "His first words are, Where is she? And his Noise says the same. Interesting.

He's a woman. He's a grown woman He's a old woman.

I'm just a girl." "It is tragic how well you have been taught to say that with sadness rather than triumph.

So who are you then, Todd Hewitt?" he says. "What makes you so special?" Now that, I think, is a very good asking.

Whereas the town knows all about you already and wants to know more and wants to beat you with what it knows till how can you have any of yourself left at all?" ~pg 11

It's a trick Ben taught me to help settle my Noise. You close yer eyes and as clearly and calmly as you can you tell yerself who you are, cuz that's what gets lost in all that Noise.

Mikey," she says, but not like she's about to say anything more, just like she's identifying me, making a place for me here that's mine to exist in. I want her so much, my heart feels heavy, like I'm grieving. Is this what they meant about that stomach feeling? They didn't say it felt this sad.

Her accent's funny, different from mine, different from anyone in Prentisstown's. Her lips make different kinds of outlines for the letters, like they're swooping down on them from above, pushing them into shape, telling them what to say. In Prentisstown, everyone talks like they're sneaking up on their words, ready to club them from behind.

You know that is not true, the monster said. You know that your truth, the one that you hide, Conor O'Malley, is the thing you are most afraid of.

I am Todd Hewitt, I think to myself with my eyes closed. I am twelve years and twelve months old. I live in Prentisstown on New World. I will be a man in one month's time exactly.

Is this what war is? Is this what men want so much? Is this sposed to make them men?

And if no one sees you, are you really there at all?