74 Quotes by Patrick Süskind

Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.

He had used only a drop of his perfume for his performance in Grasse. There was enough left to enslave the whole world. If he wanted, he could be feted in Paris, not by tens of thousands, but by hundreds of thousands of people; or could walk out to Versailles and have the King kiss his feet; write the Pope a perfumed letter and reveal himself as the new Messiah; be anointed in Notre-Dame as Supreme Emperor before kings, or even as God come to earth.

She was indeed a girl of exquisite beauty. She was one of those languid women made of dark honey, smooth and sweet and terribly sticky, who take control of a room with a syrupy gesture, a toss of the hair, a single slow whiplash of the eyes-and all the while remain as still as the center of a hurricane, apparently unaware of the force of gravity by which they irresistibly attract to themselves the yearnings and the souls of both men and women.

Se pare că fiece individ în parte înțelege iubirea drept ceva care-l privește în modul cel mai personal, ca pe o chestiune de cea mai mare însemnătate pentru existența sa, astfel încât nici măcar astrofizicianului, atunci când i s-au aprins călcâiele, nu-i mai pasă câtuși de puțin de originea universului - darămite de vremea de-afară.

Ich kenne Menschen, in denen steckt ein ganzes Universum, unermeßlich. Aber herauskriegen tut man es nicht. Ums Verrecken nicht. Das am Rande.

Henceforth nothing could shake him and no doubt could cause him to waver. He had found his way to sphinxlike imperturbability.

Palpitava-lhe a extraordinária sensação de que esse aroma seria a chave para ordenar todos os aromas, que não entenderia nada de aromas se não se tivesse entendido esse; e ele Grenoiulle teria desperdiçado a vida se não conseguisse pegá-lo. Precisava tê-lo, não pela mera posse, mas para sossego do seu coração.

Être soi-même un gros alambic qui inonderait le monde des parfums qu'il aurait créés seul, tel était le rêve fou auquel s'abandonnait Grenouille.

Au XVIIIe siècle vécut en France un homme qui compta parmi les personnages les plus géniaux et les plus abominables de cette époque qui pourtant ne manqua pas de génies abominables.