Men who loved you when you were twenty, and who continue to see you the way

you looked then are

impossible to replace.
Irene Nemirovsky, Jezebel

How sad the world is, so beautiful yet so absurd...
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

But she loved studying and books, the way other people love wine for its power to make you forget.
What else did she have? She lived in a deserted, silent house. The sound of her own footsteps in the
empty rooms, the silence of the cold streets beyond the closed windows, the rain and the snow, the early
darkness, the green lamp beside her that burned throughout the long evenings and which she watched
for hours on end until its light began to waver before her weary eyes: this was the setting for her life.
Irene Nemirovsky, The Wine of Solitude
Off you go, good people, we are sorry not to be able to keep you any longer. We have sheltered you for
as long as we could, but now we have to give you back to the world and to your everyday lives. Time to
go. Mass is over.
--from "Dimanche" by Irene Nemirovsky
After all, the three of us were young. It wasnt just about the pleasure of the flesh. No, it wasnt that
simple. The flesh is easy to satisfy. Its the heart that is insatiable, the heart that needs to love, to
despair, to burn with any kind of fireThat was what we wanted. To burn, to be consumed, to devour
our days just as fire devours the forest.
Irene Nemirovsky, Fire in the Blood
"They were together, so they were happy. Even though the watchful family slipped between them,
separating them gently but firmly, the young man and woman knew they were near one another; nothing
else mattered."
--from All Our Worldly Goods, by Irene Nemirovsky
Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.
M. F. K. Fisher
"I like old people when they have aged well. And old houses with an accumulation of sweet honest living
in them are good. And the timelessness that only the passing of Time itself can give to objects both
inside and outside the spirit is a continuing reassurance."
--from Sister Age, by M. F. K. Fisher (1908-1992)
The closeness of reality and the distance of myth, because if there is no distance you aren't amazed,
and if there is no closeness you aren't moved.
-- Peter Brook, who was born in London on this day in 1925, on storytelling
"That sun, that light had faded, and she had faded with them. Now she was as grey as the season
itself."

Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
"It's not forgetting that heals. It's remembering."

--Amy Greene, Bloodroot
"When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out."

Elizabeth Bowen, A WORLD OF LOVE
. Cand e vorba de cuvinte, oricata grija am avea, niciodata nu e suficienta, se razgandesc si ele, mai rau
ca oamenii. Saramago
Te druieti uor doar atunci cnd nu ezii.
n geamantan mi-a rmas un loc gol, pe care-l umplu cu fn. Tot aa facem i cnd e vorba de
geamantanul vieii, adic l umplem cu orice, numai s nu rmn gol.
Nu trebuie sa facem mare caz de femei, doar sa ne emotionam cand le privim si apoi sa ne admiram
ca am resimtit un sentiment placut numai pentru atata lucru. Barres
Spiritul femeilor e alcatuit din impresiile succesive lasate de barbatii care le-au iubit, tot astfel dupa
cum gustul barbatilor e format din imaginile confuze si suprapuse ale femeilor care au trecut prin
viata lor si adesea suferintele ingrozitoare pe care o femeie ne-a facut sa le induram devin pricina
dragostei pe care o inspiram alteia, si pricina nenorocirii ei.
Femeile sunt schimbatoare, totdeauna sunt in cautarea unei tinte precise catre care sa-si indrepte
gandurile si dorintele lor ratacitoare; poate ca aceasta nevoie ii creeaza barbatului datoria de a fi
busola lor, de a fi punctul fix. O mare dragoste nu reuseste sa lege de tine fiinta iubita, daca nu stii,
in acelasi timp, sa-i umpli viata cu o bogatie de sentimente mereu reinnoite.
Femeile se ataseaza in mod firesc de acei barbati a caror viata inseamna o vesnica miscare, care
le antreneaza in aceasta miscare, care pretind multe de la ele