23 Quotes by Mathias Énard

Often one wishes for things to repeat; you want to relive a moment that escaped, return to a gesture that didn’t take place or a word that wasn’t uttered; you try to find again the sounds that were left in your throat, the caress you didn’t dare give, the tightening of the chest that is gone forever.

It begins with the proportions. Architecture is the art of equilibrium; just as the body is ruled by precise laws — length of arms, of legs, position of muscles — a building obeys rules that guarantee its harmony. The arrangement of things is the key to a façade, the beauty of a temple stems from the order, the articulation of the elements with respect to one another.

Noć se ne obraća danu. Ona u njemu sagoreva. U zoru se prinosi na lomaču. A sa njom i njeni ljudi, pijanci, pesnici, ljubavnici.

He begins to recite some verses. A Persian poem. I don’t stop desiring when my desire Is fulfilled, when my mouth wins The red lips of my beloved, When my soul expires in the sweetness of her breath. Arslan smiles, he has recognized the inimitable Hafez of Shiraz, which is confirmed by the last couplet: And you will always invoke the name of Hafez In the company of the sad and the brokenhearted.

Die Teesträucher fließen die Hügel hinab; es sind kleine Büsche von rundem Wuchs mit länglichen Blättern, die dicht nebeneinander gepflanzt werden: von oben betrachtet sehen die Felder aus wie ein grünes, eng gelegtes Mosaik aus Knöpfen, bemoosten Kugeln, die sich über die Hänge des Himalaya ziehen.