Quotes from Zazie in the Metro

“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

About the author

Popular quotes

“She had given him up. That was the hard condition of his being and of all commerce between them.”
― David Malouf, quote from Ransom

“But the boy protected Yorda from the shadows-that-walk-alone. He took her hand, defended her, swung his thin arm, and fought with his tiny frame, driving them back. If the shades dragged her into their realm, she would once again become a prisoner, and the boy would turn to stone, a sad adornment in the castle. Yorda knew this. But the boy did not--even as he did not know that Yorda was the property of the queen of the castle--and he protected her.”
― Miyuki Miyabe, quote from Ico: Castle in the Mist

“I’m an oncologist, not a podiatrist.” My skin unzipped. Those were the worst kinds of doctors. They never saved anyone.”
― Jennifer Gooch Hummer, quote from Girl Unmoored

“The perturbations, anxieties, depravations, deaths, exceptions in the physical or moral order, spirit of negation, brutishness, hallucinations fostered by the will, torments, destruction, confusion, tears, insatiabilities, servitudes, delving imaginations, novels, the unexpected, the forbidden, the chemical singularities of the mysterious vulture which lies in wait for the carrion of some dead illusion, precocious & abortive experiences, the darkness of the mailed bug, the terrible monomania of pride, the inoculation of deep stupor, funeral orations, desires, betrayals, tyrannies, impieties, irritations, acrimonies, aggressive insults, madness, temper, reasoned terrors, strange inquietudes which the reader would prefer not to experience , cants, nervous disorders, bleeding ordeals that drive logic at bay, exaggerations, the absence of sincerity, bores, platitudes, the somber, the lugubrious, childbirths worse than murders, passions, romancers at the Courts of Assize, tragedies,-odes, melodramas, extremes forever presented, reason hissed at with impunity, odor of hens steeped in water, nausea, frogs, devilfish, sharks, simoon of the deserts, that which is somnambulistic, squint-eyed, nocturnal, somniferous, noctambulistic, viscous, equivocal, consumptive, spasmodic, aphrodisiac, anemic, one-eyed, hermaphroditic, bastard, albino, pederast, phenomena of the aquarium, & the bearded woman, hours surfeited with gloomy discouragement, fantasies, acrimonies, monsters, demoralizing syllogisms, ordure, that which does not think like a child, desolation, the intellectual manchineel trees, perfumed cankers, stalks of the camellias, the guilt of a writer rolling down the slope of nothingness & scorning himself with joyous cries, that grind one in their imperceptible gearing, the serious spittles on inviolate maxims, vermin & their insinuating titillations, stupid prefaces like those of Cromwell, Mademoiselle de Maupin & Dumas fils, decaying, helplessness, blasphemies, suffocation, stifling, mania,--before these unclean charnel houses, which I blush to name, it is at last time to react against whatever disgusts us & bows us down.”
― Comte de Lautréamont, quote from Maldoror = Les Chants de Maldoror, together with a translation of Lautréamont's Poésies

“Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.”
― Guru Nanak, quote from Sri Guru Granth Sahib

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.