406 Quotes by Clarice Lispector

And even so, I had discovered, I was afraid to free myself. “That” had grown too much inside me, leaving me full. I’d be helpless if I were ever cured. After all, what was I now, I felt, but a reflection? Were I to eradicate Daniel, I’d be a blank mirror.

Love? I wanted to go with him, to be on the stronger side, for him to spare me, like one who seeks shelter in the arms of the enemy to stay far from his arrows. It was different than love, I was finding out: I wanted him as a thirsty person desires water, without feelings, without even wanting to be happy.

Renda-se, como eu me rendi. Mergulhe no que você não conhece como eu mergulhei. Não se preocupe em entender, viver ultrapassa qualquer entendimento.

Saudade é um pouco como fome. Só passa quando se come a presença. Mas às vezes a saudade é tão profunda que a presença é pouco: quer-se absorver a outra pessoa toda. Essa vontade de um ser o outro para uma unificação inteira é um dos sentimentos mais urgentes que se tem na vida.

I, just from having felt affection, thought that loving is easy.

She clutched him tightly, in alarm. She protected herself trembling. Because life was in peril. She loved the world, loved what had been created - she loved with nausea.

I realize now that it was a certain apathy, rather than peace, that turned my acts and my desires to ash.

Twelve years weigh on a person like pounds of lead. The days melt into one another, merge to form one whole block, a big anchor. And the person is lost.

I am so lost. But that is exactly how we live; lost in time and space.