15 Quotes by Roland Topor

When he lifted the cover of one of the trash cans, before emptying the contents of his own pail into it, he was always astonished by its neatness and order. His own trash was the most indecent collection in the entire building. Repugnant and despicable. There was no resemblance between it and the honest, day-to-day trash of the other tenants. That had a solid, respectable appearance, and his did not.

He considered both doctors and nurses as monsters of insensitivity, in spite of the fact that he admired their devotion to duty.

Other people aren't like me in the slightest, I find. I admit though I prefer to know they are happy, just to be on the safe side. If not, they can be dangerous. I don't like seeing their blood, not at all, nor their guts, all that disgusts me. And if anyone deserves pity, it's me. The others will have to manage by themselves. They weren't any worse off before I was born, and they won't be any better off after I'm dead.

Why is my skull covered with hair? To make it look like my genitals?

I pace up and down from one wall to the other talking to myself like a patient in a mental hospital. That naked body I catch sight of every time I pass the mirror makes me feel like throwing up. The grey flesh with its covering of black hairs somehow attracts me and disgusts me at the same time.

I’m absolutely alone in this strange city, and I have a bad foot. I don’t dare even move for fear of precipitating yet another crisis. I breathe softly, and think carefully. No sudden ideas, the shock could be fatal. It’s a poor kind of protagonist really who just lies around on his bed.