Quotes from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“I answer that I try to write true stories but that at a given point the story becomes unbearable because of it’s very truth, and then I have to change it. I tell her that I try to tell my story but all of a sudden I can’t-I don’t have the courage, it hurts too much. And so I embellish everything and describe things not as they happened but the way I wished they happened.
She says, “Yes, there are lives sadder than the saddest of books.” I say, “Yes. No book, no matter how sad, can be as sad as a life.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“You don't want to fight the enemy anymore?"
"I don't want to fight anyone. I have no enemies. I want to go home.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“You will forget. Life is like that. Everything goes in time. Memories blur, pain diminishes. I remember my wife as one remembers a bird or a flower”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Seen nothing? Idiot! We have all the work and all the worry: children to feed, wounds to tend. Once the war is over, you men are all heroes. The dead: heroes. The survivors: heroes. The maimed: heroes. That’s why you invented war. It’s your war. You wanted it, so get on with it – heroes, my ass!”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“On our way home we throw the apples, the biscuits, the chocolate and the coins in the tall grass by the roadside. It is impossible to throw away the stroking on our hair”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“As soon as you begin to think, you can no longer love life”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“And death hasn’t come. It never does come when you call it. It enjoys torturing us. I’ve been calling for it for years and it pays me no attention”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“No book, no matter how sad, can be as sad as a life.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Every one of us commits a fatal mistake sometime in his life. When we realize it, the damage is already done”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Yes, sir. Blackmail…Yes. It’s deplorable that we’ve been forced to this”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“People are cruel. They like to kill. It’s the war that has taught them that. And there are explosives lying around everywhere”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Le parole che definiscono i sentimenti sono molto vaghe; è meglio evitare il loro impiego e attenersi alle descrizioni degli oggetti, degli esseri umani e di se stessi, vale a dire alla descrizione fedele dei fatti.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“My walls no longer protect me. They never protected me. Their solidity is mere illusion, their whiteness is stained”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“It is impossible to throw away the stroking on our hair.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“So che morirò, Peter, ma non capisco. Al posto di un solo cadavere, quello di mia sorella, ce ne sarà un secondo, il mio. Ma chi ha bisogno di un secondo cadavere? Dio certamente no, Lui non sa che farsene dei nostri corpi. La società? Ci guadagnerebbe un libro o dei libri se mi lasciasse vivere, invece di guadagnarci un cadavere in più che non gioverà a nessuno.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“I miei figli non giocano.
Cosa fanno?
Si preparano ad attraversare la vita.
Dico:
Io la vita l'ho attraversata e non ho trovato nulla.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“– Then why are you begging?
– To find out what effect it has and to observe people’s reaction”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“I don't think. I can't allow myself the luxury. I've lived with fear since I was a child.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Later, with time, we no longer need a shawl over our eyes or grass in our ears. The one playing the blind man simply turns his gaze inward, and the deaf one shuts his ears to all sounds”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Un uomo dice: -Tu chiudi il becco! Le donne non sanno niente della guerra. La donna dice: -Non sanno niente? Coglione! Abbiamo tutto il lavoro, tutte le preoccupazioni: i bambini da sfamare. i feriti da curare. Voi, una volta finita la guerra siete tutti degli eroi. Morti: eroi. Sopravvissuti: eroi. Mutilati: eroi. E' per questo che avete inventato la guerra, voi uomini. e' la vostra guerra. L'avete voluta voi. fatela allora, eroi dei miei stivali!”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Crying is no use, you know. We never cry, even though we aren’t men yet, like you”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“It’s hardly matters whether it’s true or false. The point is the slander. People love scandal”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Я убежден, Лукас, что всякое человеческое существо рождается, чтобы написать книгу, и ни для чего другого.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Un uomo dice:
- Tu chiudi il becco! Le donne non sanno niente della guerra.
La donna dice:
- Non sanno niente? Coglione! Abbiamo tutto il lavoro, tutte le preoccupazioni: i bambini da sfamare, i feriti da curare. Voi, una volta finita la guerra siete tutti degli eroi. Morti: eroi. Sopravvissuti: eroi. Mutilati: eroi. E' per questo che avete inventato la guerra, voi uomini. E' la vostra guerra. L'avete voluta voi, fatela allora, eroi dei miei stivali!”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“Lucas chiede:
- Non sei mai triste?
- No, perché una cosa mi consola sempre di un'altra.

(una bambina)”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“The frontier has been rebuilt. It is now impassable. Our country is surrounded by barbed wire; we are completely cut off from the rest of the world”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“It is easier to give than to receive, is that it? Pride is a sin, Father”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

“The people have already atoned
For the past and the future”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels

About the author

Popular quotes

“В быстролётные годы расцвета женской красоты она отлично служит притворству, к которому вынуждает женщину её природная слабость и законы нашего общества. Чудесный, свежий цвет лица, блеск глаз, изящный рисунок тонких черт, богатство линий, резких или округлых, но чистых и совершенно законченных, — завеса для всех её сокровенных волнений; если она покраснеет, это не выдаст движения её души, а только оживит и без того яркие краски; огонь её глаз, горящих жизнью, в ту пору скрадывает все внутренние вспышки, и пламя страданий, вырываясь на миг, делает её ещё пленительнее. Итак, нет ничего более непроницаемого, чем молодое лицо, ибо нет ничего неподвижнее. Лицо молодой женщины безмятежно, гладко, ясно, как поверхность дремлющего озера. Своеобразие начинает появляться в женском лице лишь к тридцати годам. До этого возраста художнику не найти в нём ничего, кроме бело-розовых красок, улыбок и выражения, которое повторяет одну и ту же мысль, — мысль о радостях молодости и любви, мысль однообразную и неглубокую; но в старости, когда женщина всё уже испытала, следы страстей словно врезаются в лицо её; она была любовницей, супругой, матерью; самые сильные проявления счастья и горя в конце концов меняют облик человека, искажают черты, бороздя лицо неисчислимыми морщинами, наделяя каждую из них своим языком; и женщина становится тогда величественной в своём страдании, прекрасной в печали своей, великолепной в своей невозмутимости, и если нам позволено будет развить наше необычайное сравнение, то в высохшем озере станут тогда видны следы всех родников, питавших его; тогда лицо женщины уже не привлечёт внимания света, ибо в легкомыслии своём свет будет напуган тем, что разрушены его привычные понятия о красоте; не привлечёт оно и посредственного, ничего не смыслящего художника, зато вдохновит истинного поэта, того, кто наделён чувством прекрасного, кто свободен от всех условностей, на которых зиждется столько ложных понятий об искусстве и красоте.
Люди несчастные, привыкшие взывать к небу с мольбой об утешении в горестях жизни, сразу бы распознали по взгляду этой женщины, что и для неё молитва является единственным прибежищем в повседневных страданиях и что у неё ещё кровоточат те тайные раны, от которых гибнут все цветы души, вплоть до материнских чувств. У живописца есть краски для таких портретов, но никакими словами не передать их; сущность лица, его выражение — само по себе явление необъяснимое, и лишь зрение помогает нам уловить его; у писателя есть только один способ дать представление о страшных переменах, происшедших во внешности его героев: он должен рассказать о тех событиях, из-за которых они появились. Всё в этой женщине говорило о бесшумной ледяной грозе, о тайной борьбе между героизмом страдающей матери и убожеством наших чувств, недолговечных, как и мы сами, в которых нет ничего вечного.
Люди хорошо воспитанные, и особенно женщины, скрытны в проявлении своих чувств, и о волнении их сердца догадается лишь тот, кому довелось испытать в жизни всё, что испытывала исстрадавшаяся мать.”
― Honoré de Balzac, quote from A Woman Of Thirty

“I should have known better. Arguing with Drew is like dealing with a terrorist. He has no boundaries; nothing’s off limits. There are no depths he won’t sink to to win. Then he looks thoughtful.”
― Emma Chase, quote from Twisted

“I think . . . I think, Calder, that we have to figure out how to forgive, not for the people who wronged us, but for us. We can't keep bitterness attached to our hearts because eventually, it might become part of us—so deeply ingrained we can't work it back out. I think we have to focus on the beauty we've been given in this life, and make that the thing that defines us. Because people defined by bitterness end up destroying themselves from the inside out, and eventually they destroy everyone who tries to love them, too. That's not going to be us.”
― Mia Sheridan, quote from Finding Eden

“We got a duty . . . we all got the same duty, all of us, Major.” Armistead”
― Jeff Shaara, quote from Gods and Generals

“Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.”
― Rob Bell, quote from Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

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