All Muriel Barbery Quotes
- The only purpose of cats is that they constitute mobile decorative objects. Cat
- Civilization is the mastery of violence, the triumph, constantly challenged, over the aggressive nature of the primate. For primates we have been and primates we… Aggressive
- I witness the birth on paper of sentences that have eluded my will and appear in spite of me on the sheet, teaching me something… Appear
- Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty. Attain
- I belong to the 8% of the world population who calm their apprehension by drowning it in numbers. Apprehension
- People aim for the stars, and they end up like goldfish in a bowl. I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children… Absurd
- I find this a fascinating phenomenon: the ability we have to manipulate ourselves so that the foundation of our beliefs is never shaken. Ability
- In a split second of eternity, everything is changed, transfigured. A few bars of music, rising from an unfamiliar place, a touch of perfection in… Bars
- Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside she is covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that… Covered
- In the end, I wonder if the true movement of the world might not be a voice raised in song. End
- Do you know that it is in your company that I have had my finest thoughts? Company
- Moments like this act as magical interludes, placing our hearts at the edge of our souls: fleetingly, yet intensely, a fragment of eternity has come… Ability
- To beauty, all is forgiven, even vulgarity. Intelligence no longer seems an adequate compensation for things... Adequate
- As always, I am saved by the inability of living creatures to believe anything that might cause the walls of their little mental assumptions to… Assumption
- If you have but one friend, make sure you choose her well. Choose
- When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be… Ability
- I thought: pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language. Beauty
- . . . maybe that's what life's all about: there's a lof of despair, but also the odd moments of beauty, where time is no… All
- Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea. Silence descends, one… Aspire
- The real ordeal is not leaving those you love but learning to live without those who don't love you. Learning