199 Quotes by Muriel Barbery

We can be friends. We can be anything we want to be.

Qui croitPouvoir faire du mielSans partager le destin des abeilles?

This pause in time, within time ... When did I first experience the exquisite sense of surrender that is only possible with another person? The peace of mind one experiences on one's own, one's certainty of self in the serenity of solitude, are nothing in comparison to the release and openness and fluency one shares with another, in close companionship ...

Let us just say that the idea of struggling to make my way in a world of privileged, affluent people exhausted me before I even tried: I was the child of nothing, I had neither beauty not charm, neither past nor ambition; I had not the slightest savoir-fare or sparkle. There was only one thing I wanted: to be left alone, without too many demands upon my person, so that for a few moments each day I might be allowed to assuage my hunger.

Talent consists not in inventing shapes but in causing those that were invisible to emerge.

I thought: pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language.

Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty.

Clara looked at Maria and tried to understand what she must do so that Maria would be able to see her. But the little French girl cast all around her the bronze of infinite solitude.

I'm afraid to go into myself and see what's going on in there.