All Muriel Barbery Quotes
- 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
- Pastries . . . can only be appreciated to the full extent of their subtlety when they are not eaten to assuage our hunger, when… All
- What is writing, no matter how lavish the pieces, if it says nothing of the truth, cares little for the heart, and is merely subservient… Brilliance
- Don't let the cat out or the concierge in: this is the first principle of socialist ladies. Cat
- ... they have never seen you ... I would recognize you anywhere. Anywhere
- This pause in time, within time ... When did I first experience the exquisite sense of surrender that is only possible with another person? The… Another Person
- Yes, our eyes may perceive, yet they do not observe; they may believe, yet they do not question; they may receive yet they do not… Believe
- ...we have to surpass ourselves every day, make every day undying. Climb our own personal Everest and do it in such a way that every… Bit
- I have read so many books. And yet, like most Autodidacts, I am never quite sure of what I have gained from them. There are… Able
- ...This is the first time I have met someone who seeks out people and who sees beyond...We never look beyond our assumptions and, what's worse,… Actually Realized
- It would be so much better if we could share our insecurity, if we could all venture inside ourselves and realize that green beans and… All