100 Quotes by Herta Müller

At a time I used to think that in a world without guards people would walk differently from the way we do in our country. Where people are allowed to think and write differently, I thought, they will also walk differently.

Everyday brought me further away from other people, I had been placed out of the world's sight, as if in a cupboard, and I hoped it would stay that way. I developed a yearning for being alone, unkempt, untended.

Today the grass listens when I speak of love. It seems to me that this word isn't honest even with itself.

Tereza's death hurt me so much, it was as if I had two heads smashing into each other. One was full of mown love, the other of hate. I wanted the love to grow back. It grew like grass and straw, all mixed up together, and turned into an icy affirmation on my brow. That was my damn stupid plant.

Îmi tot spun mereu că am puţine sentimente. Dacă pun ceva la inimă, edoar pe jumătate. Nu plâng aproape niciodată. Nu-s mai puternic decât cei cuochii umezi, ci mai slab. Ei au îndrăzneala. Când ai ajuns doar piele şi oase, ecurajos să ai sentimente.

I was all too aware that there's an unspoken law that you should never start to cry if you have too many reasons to do so. I told myself that my tears were due tot he cold, and I believed myself.

How do you have to live, I wondered, to be in harmony with what you honestly think?

Boredom is fear's patience. Fear doesn't want to exaggerate. Only on occasion--and fear considers this very important--does it want to know how things stand with me.

Silence is also a form of speaking.