Frappe-toi le cœur
Amélie Nothomb
Top 10 Best Quotes
“But no one would ever have dared make fun of her, even in private: there was something about her that inspired fear and discouraged meanness.”
“What would be the point of reproaching someone who was incapable of self-analysis, especially with so many years to make up for?”
“The grandparents took their granddaughter in and lavished all the more affection on her, because they knew that she was suffering from a lack of it. The baby's daily life changed completely and utterly.”
“She would become a doctor. She would observe people and listen to them carefully, she would probe their bodies and their souls. In the course of conversations as casual as the one she'd had with the doctor the night before, she would pinpoint what was wrong and save human lives. The lightning speed of her diagnoses would be astonishing. To find a goal for oneself at the age of eleven changes everything. What did her lost childhood matter? What she wanted now was to become an adult so she could attain the sublime status of M.D. Life would lead to something important, it would no longer be a matter of putting up with absurd torment, because even suffering could serve to explore the suffering of her patients. What she had to do now was grow up.”
“If anyone had told her that belonging to the gilded youth of a provincial town augured nothing out of the ordinary for her, she would not have believed it. She wasn't planning anything, per se, she just knew that it would be tremendous. When she woke up in the morning, she could feel a powerful summons in her heart, and she let herself be borne along by her enthusiasm. The new day promised events, their nature as yet unknown. She cherished this impression of imminence.”
“I'm not in love with you,' she told him one morning as she left for class. 'It will come,' he replied, darkly. It didn't come. After three years, she found the courage to leave him. 'How could you stay for so long with a man you didn't love?' asked Elisabeth. 'It was either him or someone else. . . ' was all Diane said.”
“How wonderful: I’ve only just met you and you’ve already enriched my life.”
“Hopelessly happy, Olivier did not hide his love. Now that she was a prima donna, Marie was radiant. "What a lovely couple! How well suited they are!" people said. She was so happy that she believed she was in love. Her parents' smiles enchanted her less than the ugly moue she saw on the lips of her peers. What fun, to be the star of this hit film! Six weeks later she was singing another tune. She ran to the doctor, who confirmed what she had been dreading. Horrified, she shared the news with Olivier, who immediately put his arm around her. "My darling, that's wonderful! Marry me!" She burst into tears. "Don't you want to?" "Yes," she said, through her tears. "But I wanted things to be different.”
“At the age of eleven Diane felt her world collapsing around her. She'd managed to survive thus far because she thought her mother was blind to her suffering. Now she had discovered that, in her mother's version of events, she was at fault for her mother's lack of tenderness. There was something almost comical about the accusation of jealousy. How could she go on living, stifled as she was by this feeling of insane injustice? She went through the rest of that Saturday like a zombie. That night, Celia joined her in her bed. Diane didn't move. 'I talked to Maman.' 'I know, I heard.' 'Eavesdropping is naughty.' 'You're right, go and tattle on me to Maman.' 'She said that--' 'I know what she said. You're an idiot, Celia to have told her I had anything to do with it. You lied. You're the one who came and complained to me. I will never trust you again.' 'What does that mean, trust?' 'It something you certainly inspire in me. Go back to your bed.' Celia did as she was told, sniffling and sobbing. Diane knew she was being harsh: what could a six-year-old child possible understand about all this business? But she was in such pain that her sister's fate was a matter of complete indifference to her.”
“... she ran to the little bed and seized hold of her beloved with a tender moan (my chocolate croissant, my little warm brioche), and began to eat her up with kisses. This consuming love never stopped. When Marie drank her coffee, she would nibble her daughter's cheek between two sips, the way others take a puff on their cigarette.”
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