144 Quotes by Elizabeth Kostova

People seem to believe that despair is the same as anguish, but it is not. It’s true that despair is surrounded by anguish, but at its core, despair is a silent, blank page.

I don’t think painters have the answers about a painting except the painting itself. Anyway, a painting has to have some kind of mystery to it to make it work.

I would not allow anyone into the center of myself; I would make myself a place to go, deep inside, no matter what happened.

I remembered some of what I’d read in the past: the small group of the original Impressionists, including one woman-Berthe Morisot- who’d first banded together in 1874 to exhibit works in a style that the Paris Salon found too experimental for inclusion. We postmoderns take them for granted, or disdain them, or love them too easily.

Dracula – ” He paused. “Dracula – Vlad Tepes – is still alive.

Obey and hate yourself, survive. Disobey, redeem yourself, perish.

For all his attention to my historical education, my father had neglected to tell me this: history’s terrible moments were real. I understand now, decades later, that he could never have told me. Only history itself can convince you of such a truth. And once you’ve seen that truth – really seen it – you can’t look away.

If my conscience had been a person at that moment, I might have strangled him.

Old women who live long enough mainly count the bodies, whether we want to or not.