29 Quotes by Philippe Besson

No matter how much you want to respect someone's freedom (even when you consider it selfish), you still have your own pain, anger, and melancholy to contend with.

I just wanted to write to tell you that I have been happy during these months together, that I have never been so happy, and that I already know I will never be so happy again.

I add: It was then that we lost touch, he and I. These last words are articulated with the least possible affect, as if life is just like that sometimes, you spend time together and then lose touch and life goes on—as if there were no breaks from which you never quite recover.

he’s smiling, a slight, complicit smile, almost tender. This smile devastated me for a long time after, whenever I happened to look at this photograph. It upsets me even now as I write these lines and contemplate the image, resting on my desk, right next to my keyboard. Because now I know. I know that Thomas consented to this single picture only because he knew (had decided) that it was our last moment together. He smiled so that I could take his smile with me.

It was actually Nadine who'd insisted that I come with her, telling me that I wasn't social enough, that real life was not lived in books, that there was nothing wrong with a little lightness, a little carefree partying. She was right. Maybe if I'd listened to her a lot earlier, I wouldn't have missed out on my youth.

On ne trahit pas les disparus. Ce sont eux qui nous trahissent. Parce qu'ils ont fait défaut, parce qu'ils sont partis, alors qu'on avait besoin d'eux, parce qu'ils ont filé sans préavis, parce qu'ils nous laissent avec le manque et aucune solution pour y remédier. Et quand ils ont lâché notre main, qui nous en voudrait d'en saisir une autre ?

... a sense of not belonging is something one inherits.

Au début, la douleur était atroce, puis elle s'est dissipée. La douleur était comme un mur que j'avais franchi, passant de l'autre côté.

Parler de lui au présent c'était le ranger du côté des vivants. Et s'il était vivant, alors je n'étais pas tout à fait morte.