The List of My Desires

I’d like to have the chance to decide what my life will be like, I think that’s the best present anyone can get. The chance to decide what your life will be like.

Men know the damage a few words can do to girls’ hearts, and, idiots that we are, we swoon away and fall into the trap, excited because at last a man has set one for us

It's only in books that you can change your life. Wipe out everything in a stroke. Do away with the weight of things. Delete the nasty parts, and then at the end of a sentence suddenly find yourself on the far side of the world.

Desire is always followed by boredom. And only love can defeat boredom. Love with a capital L; we all dream of it.

Being rich means seeing all that's ugly and having the arrogance to think you can change things. All you have to do is pay for it.

My mother’s been living alone for over ten years. She gets up at six every morning. She makes herself a coffee. She waters her plants. She listens to the news on the radio. She drinks her coffee. She has a quick wash. An hour later, at seven, her day is over. Two months ago a neighbour told her about your blog, and she asked me to buy her one of those thingummyjigs – by a thingummyjig she meant a computer. And since then, thanks to your trimmings, your ribbon bows, your tie-backs for curtains, she’s rediscovered the joys of life. So don’t tell me you don’t know any answers.

I knew in my bones that while it could do good, the money could also do harm. Greed burns everything on its path.

Yes I am loved. But I no longer love.

nos besoins sont nos petits rêves quotidiens. Ce sont nos petites choses à faire, qui nous projettent à demain, à après-demain, dans le futur ; ces petits rien qu’on achètera la semaine prochaine et qui nous permettent de penser que la semaine prochaine, on sera encore vivants.

..Holidays far apart from each other, going short of things, hours of cold and solitude? Fears? Does money cut distances short, bring people together?

Because our needs are our little daily dreams The little things to be done that project us into tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the future; trivial things that we plan to buy next week, allowing us to think that next week we'll still be alive.

Sorrow is allowed, sorrow is advised; all we have to do is let go, all we have to do is love.

Oui, je pense que tout ce qui vient du passé n'est pas dépassé. Faire soi-même possède quelque chose de très beau; prendre le temps, c'est important. Oui, je pense que tout va trop vite. On parle trop vite. On réfléchit trop vite, quand on réfléchit! On envoie des mails, des textos sans se relire, on perd lélégance de l'orthographe, la politesse, le sens des choses. (p. 94)

Une fois, il m'a dit que j'étais belle. Il y a plus de vingt ans et j'avais un peu plus de vingt ans. J'étais joliment vêtue, un faux air de Dior; il voulait coucher avec moi. Son compliment eut raison de mes jolis vêtements. Vous voyez, on se ment toujours. Parce que l'amour ne résisterait pas à la vérité.