21 Quotes by J.M.G. Le Clézio

La nuit, tout sent bon", disait Mondo."C'est parce qu'on ne voit pas", disait Thi Chin."on sent mieux, et on entend mieux quand on ne voit pas".

Horror is not unimaginable, it has neither the face of a monster nor the bat-wings of a demon. It is calm and tranquil, and it is durable, lasting whole days and nights, months; years, perhaps. It is not mortal. It strikes at the eyes, only the eyes.

You don't mean to say that Hogan has turned into a woman? Why, yes, that's him all right, you can recognize him by the fact that he has two legs, two arms, and an indecipherable face. Man, woman, what difference does it make? Are they not all exactly the same, these little black insects with their rhythmic movements, the same eyes, the same thoughts?

All words are possible, then, all names. They rain down, all these words, they disintegrate into a powdery avalanche. Belched from the volcano's mouth, they spurt in to the sky, then fall again. In the quivering air, like gelatine, the sounds trace their bubble paths. Can you imagine that?

Most people don't know how to ask the right questions. Mondo knew how to ask questions, just at the right time, when you weren't expecting it. People paused for a few seconds, they stopped thinking about themselves and their own business, they thought, and their eyes seemed to blur, because they remembered asking those questions themselves, long ago.

human beings, cans of living preserves

Quelque chose brûle en moi. J’attends et je n'attends pas. C’est peut-être dans cette rupture, dans cet instant, entre les deux pulsions, l’une qui va vers l’infini du oui, l’autre vers l’infini du non, qu’est le lieu de la vie.

The desert is so vast that no one can know it all. Men go out into the desert, and they are like ships at sea; no one knows when they will return.

Nights are long when it’s cold and you’re waiting for a train.