54 Quotes by Leïla Slimani

Nous devons prouver que, vous aussi, vous êtes une victime.

She had been in one of those sleeps so heavy they leave you feeling sad, disorientated, your stomach full of tears. A sleep so deep, so dark, that you see yourself dying, that you wake up soaked with cold sweat, paradoxically exhausted.

We will, all of us, only be happy, she thinks, when we dont need one another anymore. When we can live a life of our own, a life that belongs to us, that has nothing to do with anyone else. When we are free.

She feels suddenly sentimental. This is what it's like, being a mother. It makes her a bit silly sometimes. The most banal moments suddenly seem important. Her heart is stirred by the smallest things.

She would like to drink in their innocence, their excitement, until she is intoxicated. She would like to see through their eyes when they look at something for the first time, when they understand the logic of a mechanism, expecting it to repeat itself infinitely without ever thinking of the weariness that will one day slow it down.

Yeah. Maybe. But honestly, I don’t understand.’‘You shouldn’t try to understand everything. Children are just like adults. There’s nothing to understand.

Elle ne les a pas quittés des yeux, persuadée que personne ne pourrait les protéger aussi bien qu'elle.Depuis qu'ils sont nés, elle a peur de tout. Surtout, elle a peur qu'ils meurent.

She has the strange certainty that all struggle is futile. That all she can do is let events carry her away, wash over her, overwhelm her, while she remains passive and inert.

Several times during the night, she opened her eyes, unsure if an hour had passed or a month.