196 Quotes by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

"Nearly all a poor bastard's desires are punishable by jail."

"I tell you, little man, life's fall guys, beaten, fleeced to the bone, sweated from time immemorial, I warn you, that when the princes of this world start loving you, it means they're going to grind you up into battle sausage..."

"Vi er ikke annet enn tønner fulle av varme, halvråtne innvoller, og derfor har vi alltid vanskeligheter med følelsene våre. Å være forelsket er ingen kunst. Kunsten består i å unngå å gå i oppløsning. En lort har ingen ambisjoner i retning av å vokse og holde seg levende. På dette punktet er vi langt uheldigere stillet enn våre eksrementer. Ved å tviholde så frenetisk på kravet om å bestå i vår nåværende tilstand, utsetter vi oss selv for de utroligste pinsler."

"Poor people never, or hardly ever, ask for an explanation of all they have to put up with. They hate one another, and content themselves with that."

"Philosophizing is simply one way of being afraid, a cowardly pretense that doesn't get you anywhere."

"Les hommes y tiennent à leurs sales souvenirs, à tous leurs malheurs et on ne peut pas les en faire sortir. Ca leur occupe l'âme. Ils se vengent de l'injustice de leur présent en besognant l'avenir au fond d'eux-mêmes avec de la merde. Justes et lâches qu'ils sont tout au fond. C'est leur nature."

"I hadn't found out yet that mankind consists of two very different races, the rich and the poor. It took me ... and plenty of other people . . . twenty years and the war to learn to stick to my class and ask the price of things before touching them, let alone setting my heart on them."

"Il n'y a pas de vanité intelligente."

"Death after all is only a matter of a few hours, a few minutes, but a pension is like poverty, it lasts a whole lifetime. Rich people are drunk in a different way, they can't understand this frenzy about security. Being rich is another kind of drunkenness, the forgetful kind. That, in fact, is the whole point of getting rich: to forget."

"Les gens riches à Paris demeurent ensemble, leurs quartiers, en bloc, forment une tranche de gâteau urbain dont la pointe vient toucher au Louvre, cependant que le rebord rebondi s'arrête aux arbres entre le Pont d'Auteuil et la Porte des Ternes. Voilà. C'est le bon morceau. Tout le reste n'est que peine et fumier."