“If people could climb higher in the social hierarchy in proportion to their incompetence, I guarantee the world would not go round the way it does. But that's not even the problem. What his sentence means isn't that incompetent people… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
“It's one of my profound thoughts, but it came from another profound thought. It was one of Papa's guests, at the dinner party yesterday, who said: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach teach the… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
“Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, teach the teachers; and those who can't teach the teachers go into… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
What is writing, no matter how lavish the pieces, if it says nothing of the truth, cares little for the heart, and is merely… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
Live or die: mere consequences of what you have built. What matters is building well. So here we are I've assigned myself a new… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
“A terroir only exists by virtue of one's childhood mythology . . . we have invented these words of tradition rooted deep in the… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
“The tea ritual: such a precise repetition of the same gestures and the same tastes; accession to simple,authentic and refined sensations, a license given… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
As always, I am saved by the inability of living creatures to believe anything that might cause the walls of their little mental assumptions… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
“I wonder if I am not turning into a contemplative . . . But those roses . They were something else. I was having… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
To be poor, ugly and, moreover, intelligent condemns one in our society to a dark and disillusioned life...to beauty all is forgiven. — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
I know that they're all unhappy because nobody loves the right person the way they should and because they don't understand that it's really… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
We never look beyond our assumptions and what's worse, we have given up trying to meet others; we just meet ourselves. — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
