“happiness needs nothing but itself, it doesn’t have to be validated.” — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
If I had to give a definition of happiness, it would be this: happiness needs nothing but itself; it doesn’t have to… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“That’s the oppressive thing about happiness, the way everything is out on the table like an open book:” — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“Happiness needs nothing but itself; it doesn't have to be validated. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“We looked at each other. At that moment, I was also a hundred percent sure that Van Dieren and I were thinking the same… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“Some people might say it's not smart to be so insecure about what you wear. But that's not how I see it. The stupid… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“… when Michel came home from school, for example, and everything was as it should be. My own voice, above all, asking him what… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“They all had to do something: they had to make a start in life; they had to go through life. Even though a single… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
In one way or another, every parent is curious what their children... what are they doing when we don't see?... What double lives are… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“Life as a widow, she thinks, will always be like this. The friends will go on proposing toasts for months (for years!). To her.… — Herman koch Copy Share Image
“The smile remained suspended on her face, but it was as though it had been disconnected from the emotion behind it – if there… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“I let go of the pump as well now. I registered a sense of fatigue. And regret. It was the same fatigue and regret… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
“Is it life threatening?” they asked. They said it slightly sotto voce, but you could hear the thirst for sensation right through it: when… — Herman Koch Copy Share Image
