Near to the Wild Heart in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 29, 2012 Vicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own-pre-konmari, novel

"Whenever she told Rute secrets, for example, she'd then get angry with Rute. It really was best to keep quiet." (6)

"What else was that feeling of contained force, ready to burst forth in violence, that longing to apply it with her eyes closed, all of it, with the rash confidence of a wild beast? Wasn't it in evil alone that you could breathe fearlessly, accepting the air and your lungs? Not even pleasure would give me as much pleasure as evil, she thought surprised. She felt a perfect animal in "Whenever she told Rute secrets, for example, she'd then get angry with Rute. It really was best to keep quiet." (6)

"What else was that feeling of contained force, ready to burst forth in violence, that longing to apply it with her eyes closed, all of it, with the rash confidence of a wild beast? Wasn't it in evil alone that you could breathe fearlessly, accepting the air and your lungs? Not even pleasure would give me as much pleasure as evil, she thought surprised. She felt a perfect animal inside her, full of contradictions, of selfishness and vitality." (9)

"Don't accuse myself. Seek the basis of selfishness: nothing that I am not can interest me, it is impossible to be any more than what you are (nevertheless I exceed myself even when I'm not delirious, I am more than myself almost normally); I have a body and everything that I do is a continuation of my beginning; if the Mayan civilization doesn't interest me it is because I have nothing in me that can connect with its bas-reliefs; I accept everything that comes from me because I am unaware of the causes and I may be trampling something vital without knowing it; this is my greatest humility, she figured." (11)

"the simple and adjectiveless feeling" (12)

"There were many good feelings. Climbing the hill, stopping at the top and, without looking, feeling the ground covered behind her, the farm in the distance. The wind ruffling her clothes, her hair. Her arms free, heart closing and opening wildly, but her face bright and serene under the sun. And knowing above all that the earth beneath her feet was so deep and so secret that she need not fear the invasion of understanding dissolving its mystery. This feeling had a quality of glory." (36)

"'I don't know' isn't an answer. Learn to find everything that exists within you." (45)

"What's going to happen to me?" (48)

"Many years of her existence she had spent at the window, watching the things that passed and those that stayed still. But in fact she didn't see so much as hear the life inside her. She was fascinated by its noise—like the breathing of a tender child, by its sweet glow—like a newly-born plant. She still hadn't tired of existing and she was enough so much so that at times, enormously happy, she felt sadness cover her like the shadow of a blanket, leaving her as cool and silent as nightfall. She expected nothing. She was in herself, the end itself." (68) ...more

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