Irène Némirovsky Quotes

Believe me, my boy, women don't love a man for himself but as a weapon against other women.

Waiting is erotic

Heureux sont ceux qui peuvent aimer et haïr sans feinte, sans détour, sans nuance.

...because all happiness is contagious, and disarms the spirit of hatred.

Her grandfather's books [...] opened before Ada, a world whose colours were so dazzling that reality paled in comparison and faded away. Boris Godunov, Satan, Athalia, King Lear: they all spoke words charged with meaning; every syllable was inexpressively precious

No era inquietud propiamente dicha, sino una extraña tristeza que tenía poco de humano, porque no comportaba ni valentía ni esperanza. Así es como los animales esperan la muerte. Así es como el pez atrapado en la red ve pasar una y otra vez la sombra del pescador.

...she cried because prejudice outlives passion and because she was sentimentally patriotic.

What separates or unites people is not their language, their laws, their customs, their principles, but the way they hold their knife and fork.