SO GOOD QUOTES

  • Develop in yourself a profound resentment toward life. This resentment is necessary for any veritable artistic creation.

    Michel Houellebecq’s manifesto: Rester vivant (To Stay Alive)

  • I left after breakfast the next day, under a brilliant Sunday sun, which contrasted with my growing sadness.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • I came into contact (the receptionist at the Hôtel Mercure, the waiters at the café O’Jules, the girl on the till at Carrefour City) had asked about my mood, I would have been inclined to call it ‘sad’, but it was a peaceful, stable sadness, not susceptible to increase or decrease; a sadness, in short, that to all intents and purposes appeared definitive. But I wasn’t falling into that trap; I knew that life might still have plenty of surprises, either atrocious or delightful, in store for me.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • Aymeric had married within his circle, that’s what happens most often in the end, and it’s what gives the best results in principle, well, that’s what I’d heard anyway, but my problem is that I had no circle, no precise circle.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • I dreamt that Camille had been welcomed at my parents’ house in Senlis and I nearly talked to her about it when I woke up, but then I remembered that they were dead–I’ve always had difficulties with death, it’s a characteristic trait of mine.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • I hope I have explained clearly enough that I have never had what is called a strong personality; I wasn’t one of those people who leave indelible traces in history, or even in the memories of their contemporaries.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • But there is also a very high level of cortisol–the quantities of cortisol that you’re secreting are incredible. In fact … can I speak frankly?’ I said he could, that had been more or less the tone of our exchanges until now–frankness. ‘Well, in fact…’ He hesitated even so, his lips trembled slightly before he said: ‘I have the sense that you are, very simply, dying of sorrow.’ ‘Is there such a thing as dying of sorrow; does that mean anything?’ was the only answer that came to mind.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • For my part, without loved ones, it seemed to me that I was accepting the idea of death more and more easily; of course I would have liked to be happy, to be part of a happy community–all humans want that–but, well, it was really out of the question at this stage.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • But death imposes itself in the end: the molecular armour cracks, the process of decomposition resumes its course. It probably happens more quickly for those who have never belonged to the world, who have never imagined living, or loving, or being loved; those who have always known that life was not within their reach.

    Serotonin: A Novel
    Michel Houellebecq

  • Everything which might have been a source of pleasure, of participation, of innocent sensual harmony, has become a source of suffering and unhappiness. At the same time I feel, and with impressive violence, the possibility of joy.

    Whatever
    Michel Houellebecq