Quotes from Ocean Sea

“This is the seashore. Neither land nor sea. It’s a place that does not exist.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“I did not love you out or boredom or loneliness or caprice. I loved you because the desire for you was stronger than any happiness.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“…how it would be nice if, for every sea waiting for us, there would be a river, for us.
And someone -a father, a lover, someone- able to take us by the hand and find that river -imagine it, invent it- and put us on its stream, with the lightness of one only word, goodbye. This, really, would be wonderful. It would be sweet, life, every life. And things wouldn’t hurt, but they would get near taken by stream, one could first shave and then touch them and only finally be touched. Be wounded, also. Die because of them. Doesn’t matter. But everything would be, finally, human. It would be enough someone’s fancy -a father, a lover, someone- could invent a way, here in the middle of the silence, in this land which don’t wanna talk. Clement way, and beautiful.
A way from here to the sea.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“-Ogni tanto mi chiedo che cosa stiamo aspettando?
-Che sia troppo tardi.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“She had not really a sensitive soul, but to put it in exact terms, was possessed by an uncontrollable feeling of mind”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Non ti amo per noia, o per solitudine, o per capriccio. Ti amo perchè il desiderio di te è più forte di qualsiasi felicità.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Perché nessuno possa dimenticare che non si è mai lontani abbastanza per trovarsi, mai.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“There is nothing that can, in the dark become true”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“As you see, it is not that I don't know my own mind, I know it very well but only up to a certain point in the matter. I know perfectly well what the question is. It's the answer I want. ”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Ogni tanto mi chiedo cosa mai stiamo aspettando.
Silenzio.
Che sia troppo tardi, madame.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Sensazione meravigliosa. Di quando il destino finalmente si schiude, e diventa sentiero distinto, e ormai inequivocabile, e direzione certa. Il tempo interminabile dell'avvicinamento. Quell'accostarsi. Si vorrebbe non finisse mai. Il gesto di consegnarsi al destino. Quella è un'emozione: Senza più dilemmi, senza più menzogne. Sapere dove. E raggiungerlo. Qualunque sia, il destino.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“C'est une belle manière de se perdre, que se perdre dans les bras l'un de l'autre.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Tenía esa belleza de la que sólo los vencidos son capaces.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Venivano dai più lontani estremi della vita, questo è stupefacente, da pensare che mai si sarebbero sfiorati se non attraversando da capo a piedi l'universo, e invece neanche si erano dovuti cercare, questo è incredibile, e tutto il difficile è stato riconoscersi, riconoscersi, una cosa di un attimo, il primo sguardo è già lo sapevano, questo è il meraviglioso. Questo continuerebbero a raccontare, per sempre, nelle terre di Carewall, perché nessuno possa dimenticare che non si è mai lontani abbastanza per trovarsi, mai - lontani abbastanza - per trovarsi - lo erano quei due, lontani più di chiunque altro.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Così adesso,volendo riassumere volendo, il problema è questo,che ho tante strade intorno e nessuna dentro.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“La prima cosa è il mio nome, la seconda quegli occhi, la terza un pensiero, la quarta la notte che viene, la quinta quei corpi straziati, la sesta è la fame, la settima orrore, l'ottava i fantasmi della follia, la nona è carne e la decima è un uomo che mi guarda e non mi uccide.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Tutto quello che c'era io l'ho visto guardando te. E sono stata ovunque, stando con te. E' una cosa che non riuscirò mai a spiegare a nessuno, ma è così. Me la porterò dietro e sarà il mio segreto più bello.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Sand as far as the eye can see, between the last hills and the sea -- the sea -- in the cold air of an afternoon almost past, and blessed by the wind that always blows from the north.

The beach. And the sea.

It could be perfection -- an image for divine eyes -- a world that happens, that's all, the mute existence of land and water, a work perfectly accomplished, truth --truth -- but once again it is the redeeming grain of a man that jams the mechanism of that paradise, a bagatelle capable on its own of suspending all that great apparatus of inexorable truth, a mere nothing, but one planted in the sand, an imperceptible tear in the surface of that sacred icon, a minuscule exception come to rest on the perfection of that boundless beach. To see him from afar he would be no more than a black dot: amid nothingness, the nothing of a man and a painter's easel. The easel is anchored by slender cords to four stones placed on the sand. It sways imperceptibly in the wind that always blows from the north. The man is wearing waders and a large fisherman's jacket. He is standing, facing the sea, twirling a slim paintbrush between his fingers. On the easel, a canvas.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Almost every day, for years now, he has taken pen in hand to write to her. He has no names or addresses to put on the envelopes: but he has a life to recount. And to whom, if not to her? He thinks that when they meet it will be wonderful to place the mahogany box full of letters on her lap and say to her, “I was waiting for you.”
She will open the box and slowly, when she so desires, read the letters one by one, and as she works her way back up the interminable thread of blue ink she will gather up the years — the days, the moments – that that man, before he even met her, had already given to her. Or perhaps, more simply, she will overturn the box and, astonished at that comical snowstorm of letters, she will smile, saying to that man, “You are mad.” And she will love him forever.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“... да пишеш на някого е единственият начин да го чакаш, без да си причиняваш болка.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“La realtà sfuma e tutto diventa memoria.
Perfino tu, a poco a poco, hai cessato di essere un desiderio e sei diventato un ricordo.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Scivolò via come un'onda, solo più bella delle altre.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Poi non è che la vita vada come tu te la immagini. Fa la sua strada. E tu la tua. E non sono la stessa strada. Così, io non è che volevo essere felice, questo no. Volevo salvarmi, ecco: salvarmi. Ma ho capito tardi da che parte bisognava andare: dalla parte dei desideri. Uno si aspetta che siano altre cose a salvare la gente: il dovere, l'onestà, essere buoni, essere giusti. No.
Sono i desideri che salvano. Sono l'unica cosa vera. Tu stai con loro, e ti salverai. Però troppo tardi l'ho capito. Se le dai tempo, alla vita, lei si rigira in un modo strano, inesorabile: e tu ti accorgi che a quel punto non puoi desiderare qualcosa senza farti del male. È lì che salta tutto, non c'è verso di scappare, più ti agiti più si ingarbuglia la rete, più ti ribelli più ti ferisci. Non se ne esce. Quando era troppo tardi, io ho iniziato a desiderare. Con tutta la forza che avevo. Mi sono fatto tanto di quel male che tu non te lo puoi nemmeno immaginare.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“- Kartais svarstau, ko mes vis laukiame.
Tyla.
- Kad būtų per vėlu, madam.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Every so often I wonder what on earth we are waiting for. Silence. For it to be too late, Madame.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Почти всеки ден, от години вече, взема в ръка перото и пише. Няма имена и няма адреси, които да сложи на пликовете - но има един живот за разказване. И на кого, ако не на нея? Той мисли, че когато се срещнат, ще бъде хубаво да положи в скута ѝ кутия от махагон, пълна с писма и да ѝ каже
- Чаках те.
Тя ще отвори кутията и бавно, когато поиска, ще чете писмата едно по едно и проследявайки по обратния ѝ път километрова нишка синьо мастило, ще прегърне годините - дните, миговете, - които този мъж, преди още да я познава, вече ѝ е подарил.
Или може би просто ще обърне кутията и слисана пред смешния снеговалеж от писма, ще се усмихне, казвайки на този мъж
- Ти си луд.
И завинаги ще го обикне.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Човек си строи големи истории, това е истината, и може да им вярва с години, няма значение колко безумни са, и неправдоподобни, носи ги в себе си и толкова. И е щастлив дори, с такива неща. Щастлив. И би могло да не свършва никога.
Но ето че един ден се случва така, че нещо се счупва в сърцето на голямото фантастично построение, так, без никаква причина, счупва се внезапно, и ти стоиш и не разбираш как така цялата тази приказна история вече не е в теб, а пред теб, сякаш е лудостта на някой друг, а този друг си ти. Так. Понякога стига едно нищо. Дори само въпрос, който изплува. Това стига.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“La vie n'est pas assez grande pour y faire entrer tout ce que le désir peut imaginer.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

“Ha 38 anni Bartleboom, lui pensa che da qualche parte, nel mondo, incontrerà un giorno una donna che, da sempre, è la sua donna. Ogni tanto si rammarica che il destino si ostini a farlo attendere con tanta indelicata tenacia, ma col tempo ha imparato a considerare le cosa con grande serenità. Quasi ogni giorno ormai da anni, prende la penna in mano e le scrive. Non ha nomi e non ha indirizzi da mettere sulle buste: ma ha una vita da raccontare. E a chi se non a lei?
Lui pensa che quando si incontreranno sarà bello posarle in grembo una scatola di mogano piena di lettere e dirle: "ti aspettavo!"
Lei aprirà la scatola e lentamente quando vorrà leggerà le lettere una ad una e risalendo un chilometrico filo di inchiostro blu, si prenderà gli anni, i giorni gli istanti, che quell'uomo prima ancora di conoscerla le aveva regalato.
O forse, più semplicemente, capovolgerà la scatola e attonita davanti quella buffa nevicata di lettere sorriderà dicendo a quell'uomo: "tu sei matto!"... e per sempre lo amerà!”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Ocean Sea

About the author

Popular quotes

“What are you supposed to do with all the love you have for somebody if that person is no longer there? What happens to all that leftover love? Do you suppress it? Do you ignore it? Are you supposed to give it to someone else?”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from After You'd Gone

“She closed her eyes and tried to think, as she had done so many times in her life, of something she was looking forward to, but there was nothing. Not the slightest thing. Not even Sunday. Nothing maybe except sleep, and she was not even certain she was looking forward to sleep. In any case, she could not sleep yet, since it was not yet nine o’clock. There was nothing she could do. It was as though she had been locked away. In”
― Colm Tóibín, quote from Brooklyn

“We get in and I start the car. “Are you going to be good to Lani?” I ask. I think of Tommy Cook, a pale boy with psoriasis; we used to tie him to a chair with bungee cords and put him in the middle of the road, then hide. Few cars would actually come down Rainbow Drive, but when they did, it always surprised me that the drivers would slow their vehicles and swerve around the chair. None of them ever got out of their cars to help Tommy; it was as though they were in on the prank. I don’t know how Tommy managed to let us catch him more than once. Maybe he liked the attention.

“I’ll try,” Scottie says. “But it’s hard. She has this face that you just want to hit.”

“I know what you mean,” I say, thinking of Tommy, but realize I’m not supposed to empathize. “What does that mean?” I ask. “The kind of face that you want to hit. Where did you get that?” Sometimes I wonder if Scottie knows what she’s saying or if it’s something she recites, like those kids who memorize the Declaration of Independence.

“It’s something Mom said about Danielle.”

“I see.” Joanie has carried her juvenile meanness into her adult life. She sends unflattering pictures of her ex-friends to the Advertiser to put in their society pages. She always has some sort of drama in her life, some friend I’m not supposed to speak to or invite to our barbecues, and then I hear her on the phone gossiping about the latest scandal in an outraged and thrilled voice. “You are going to die,” I’ll hear her say. “Oh my God, you will just die.”

Is this where Scottie gets it? By watching her mother use cruelty as a source of entertainment? I feel almost proud that I have made these deductions without the blogs and without Esther, and I’m eager to tell Joanie about all of this, to prove that I was capable without her.”
― Kaui Hart Hemmings, quote from The Descendants

“doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”
― Philip Roth, quote from The Ghost Writer

“Being angry at the mistakes made by the heart will only leave you bitter.”
― Jamie Magee, quote from Insight

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.