“Being or nothing, that is the question. Ascending, descending, coming, going, a man does so much that in the end he disappears.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“Why," he was saying, "why should one not tolerate this life, since so little suffices to deprive one of it? So little brings it into being, so little brightens it, so little blights it, so little bears it away. Otherwise, who would tolerate the blows of fate and the humiliations of a successful career, the swindling of grocers, the prices of butchers, the water of milkmen, the irritation of parents, the fury of teachers, the bawling of sergeant-majors, the turpitude of the beasts, the lamentations of the dead-beats, the silence of infinite space, the smell of cauliflower or the passivity of the wooden horses on a merry-g0-round, were it not for his knowledge that the bad and proliferative behaviour of certain minute cells (gesture) or the trajectory of a bullet traced by an involuntary, irresponsible, anonymous individual might unexpectedly come and cause all these cares to evaporate into the blue heavens.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“–Alors tu t’es bien amusée ?
–Comme ça.
–T’as vu le métro ?
–Non.
–Alors, qu’est-ce que t’as fait ?
–J’ai vieilli”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“— Snob mon cul, dit Zazie.
~
— Gentille mon cul, rétorqua Zazie.
~
— Grandes personnes mon cul, répliqua Zazie.
~
— Seule mon cul, dit la fillette avec la correction du langage qui lui était habituelle.
~
— Politesse mon cul, dit Zazie.
~
— Quelle colique que l’egzistence, reprit Madeleine (soupir).
~
— Tu causes, tu causes, c’est tout ce que tu sais faire.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“– Tonton Gabriel, dit Zazie paisiblement, tu m'as pas encore espliqué si tu étais un hormosessuel ou pas, primo, et deuzio où t'avais été pêcher toutes les belles choses en langue forestière que tu dégoisais tout à l'heure? Réponds.
– T'en as dla suite dans les idées pour une mouflette, observa Gabriel languissamment.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“L’essere o il nulla, ecco il problema. Salire, scendere, andare, venire; tanto fa l’uomo che alla fine sparisce. Un tàssi lo reca, un metró lo porta via, la torre non ci bada, e il Pàntheon neppure. Parigi è solo un sogno, Gabriel è solo un’ombra (incantevole), Zazie il sogno d’un’ombra (o di un incubo) e tutta questa storia il sogno di un sogno, l’ombra di un’ombra, poco più di un delirio scritto a macchina da un romanziere idiota (oh! mi scusi). Laggiù, oltre, un po’ oltre, Place de la République, si accatastano tombe dei parigini che furono, che salirono e scesero scale, andarono e vennero per le vie e tanto fecero che alla fine sparirono. Un forcipe li introdusse, un carro funebre li porta via e la torre si arrugginisce e il Pàntheon si screpola più presto di quanto le ossa dei morti fin troppo presenti non si dissolvano nell’humus della città tutto impregnato di affanni. Ma sono vivo, io, e qui s’arresta la mia scienza perché del tassimane sparito nel suo trespolo a tassametro o di mia nipote sospesa a trecento metri nell’atmosfera o della mia sposa, la dolce Marceline, rimasta presso il focolare domestico, in questo preciso momento io non so, e qui non so, se non questo, endecasillabicamente: eccoli quasi morti perché assenti.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“Mais Turandot sort brusquement de son bistrot et, du bas des marches, il lui crie :
"Eh petite, où vas-tu comme ça ?"
Zazie ne lui rèpond pas, elle se contente d'allonger le pas.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“-Perché vuoi fare la maestra?
- Per rompere le balle alle bambine, - rispose Zazie.- Quelle che avranno la mia età fra dieci, tra vent'anni, tra cinquant'anni, fra cento anni, fra mille anni. Aver sempre da rompere le balle a qualcuno.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“There's as many fish in the sea as ever came out of it. Fright though you are, you won't have any trouble in hooking another boy-friend.”
― Raymond Queneau, quote from Zazie in the Metro
“It occurred to him that strength was quite different from toughness and that being vulnerable wasn't quite the same as being weak.”
― Michelle Magorian, quote from Good Night, Mr. Tom
“Katy
I always had this plan for the off chance I was around for the end of the world. I’d climb up on my roof top, turn up the radio, blast R.E.M.’s It’s The End of The World, and watch it all go down from my lofty perch.
Except real life rarely turned out that cool.
And it was really happening—it was the end of the world as we knew it, and I sure as hell didn’t feel fine.
Everything had changed and we had been the catalyst for it all.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, quote from Opposition
“No words for a long time. Which is fine, because even the most important ones-- I love you. I'm sorry. Forgive me? I'm here-- are only stand-ins for what you can say better without talking at all.”
― Huntley Fitzpatrick, quote from My Life Next Door
“Ysabeau wanted me to know she approved of you. Like the gold from which it is made, you are steadfast. You hide many secrets within you, just as the bands of the ring hide the poesies from view. But it is the stone that best captures who you are: bright on the surface, fiery within, and impossible to break.”
― Deborah Harkness, quote from Shadow of Night
“Um, because you're loopier than Flacky McPsycho, Mayor of Crazytown?"
"My databases show no record of this Crazytown of which you speak. A brain the size of an entire city burns inside me. My intelligence quotient is beyond the human scale. I would prefer if you did not refer to me in such a fashion."
"Oh, poor baby. Did I hurt the mass-murdering psychopathic artificial intelligence's feelings?”
― Amie Kaufman, quote from Illuminae
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