407 Quotes by Elena Ferrante

The conclusion we drew from this convinced us that it was best to do everything on purpose, deliberately, so that you would know what to expect.

It's only and always the two of us who are involved, she who wants me to give her what nature and circumstances kept, I who can't give what she demands; she who gets angry at my inadequacy and out of spite wants to reduce me to nothing, as she has done with herself, I who have written for months and months to give her a form whose boundaries won't dissolve, and defeat her, and calm her, and so in turn, calm myself.

Although she was fragile in appearance, every prohibition lost substance in her presence.

Languages for me have a secret venom that every so often foams up and for which there is no antidote.

I have to relearn—I said to myself—the tranquil pace of those who believe they know where they’re going and why.

What a complex foamy mixture a couple is. Even if the relationship shatters and ends, it continues to act in secret pathways, it doesn’t die, it doesn’t want to die.

You’re really a good girl, poor you.

Don’t be timid. You’re a writer, use your role, test it, make something of it. These are decisive times, everything is turning upside down. Participate, be present. And begin with the scum in your area, put their backs to the wall.

What’s got into me? Do I want children? Do I want to be a mamma, nursing and singing lullabies? Marriage plus pregnancy? And if my mother should emerge from my stomach just now when I think I’m safe?