The Women at the Pump Quotes

“Off Sundays the blacksmith put on his best clothes and went for a quiet walk about the town and its environs. He was not a churchgoer, but he was an honest and religious man, with a thousand sins of which he repented, and a thousand of God's blessings which gladdened his heart.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Small things and great occur; a tooth falls from the mouth, a man out of the ranks, a sparrow to the ground.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Mind you, they were not all that old, as people go. Suppose he was nineteen, that would make her a mere seventeen or so. Or if we were to tell the truth and say that he was only sixteen, that would make her still less—what age would that be? And there they stood.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“There he goes, limping home. He is somewhat disabled, a trifle imperfect in himself; but what is perfection? The life of the town realizes its image in him: a crawling life, but none the less busy for that.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Oliver no longer begins anything anywhere, beginning things is not his business, he stays where he is put, uncrushed by human thought, unconverted by the women at the pump. Naturally life, fate, and God are damned high-class questions and very necessary questions, but they will be solved by people who have learned to read and write; what use are they to Oliver? If a brain like his starts busying itself with the why and the wherefore, it will go into a tailspin, and then Oliver will be unable to continue with his work, to enjoy his food and candy, to be fit for what he is. Leave getting above oneself to others!”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Oliver was made of sterner stuff, less delicate and sensitive, more carefree, in short, the right human clay; he could endure life. Who had taken a harder knock than he? But a tiny upward turn in his fortunes, a lucky theft, a successful swindle, restored him to contentment.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Now as before, as nearly always these last twenty years, Oliver's life is partly within the law, partly on the borderline, occasionally a little outside.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Human beings push against each other and trample on each other; some sink exhausted to the ground and serve as a bridge for others, some perish—they are the ones least fitted for coping with the push, and they perish. That can't be helped. But the others flourish and blossom. Such is life's immortality. All this, mind you, they knew at the pump.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“By now both mother and daughter were in a good humor and able to joke, mother sat up in bed and chuckled from time to time; they were temperamentally akin and shared the blessed ability to suppress dark memories.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Thus, he walks and walks in his wilderness, a futile, foolish trek made not in order to arrive somewhere but simply and solely in order to be one of those who walk in the wilderness. And this work of his is a life sentence.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“When she opened her eyes, he gave a sudden cry and smashed his clenched fist a couple of times into her wet bottom. His joy was transformed into momentary fury. Otherwise, he never beat his children. That was the mother's job.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“His feeling for ivory was somewhat undeveloped.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Frank said nothing. Which was a good answer.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“And there by the pump stood a group of women with their hands under their aprons, watching the procession and discussing in hushed voices all this floral display and pomp.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“But Fia was very young and pitifully thin, by no means underfed, but undeveloped, short on muscle, short on work. What was she to do with herself, this talented girl? Her parents could afford to keep her at home or to keep her abroad, whichever she preferred, and whether she was here or there she was nice, she was charming, and she never went upstairs two steps at a time, no, never.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Petra doesn't answer, doesn't look at him, she is so weary of his talk and of his person. Oh, that lump of fat in the chair—it breathes, it wears clothes that someone has sewn, it has buttons on its clothes; on its upper end it has a hat, tilted at an angle. She knows it all inside out, the sprawling wooden leg that projects into the narrow room and blocks the way, his conversation, all the lies, the bombast, the voice that grows more and more like a woman's, the lusterless, watery-blue gaze, the mouth that is perpetually moist. Year by year he seems to be going to pieces; only his appetite remains intact. And there isn't always enough to eat.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“The elderly remember bygone days and dates, they have a wonderful way of hoarding in their heads all manner of trifles as if they were valuable, as if they might one day stand them in good stead.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Was there something of the deamer, or a certain dignity, about Abel? Not a scrap. A tiny squirrel, as quick as lightning, a daredevil with every limb in a state of commotion. He would be seen simultaneously up by the church and down on the shore; he never walked if there was the faintest possibility of running. It was hurry hurry, his great boots thundering along the street.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Oliver was far from fretting: he was in good bodily health, the bad weather allowed him to remain in idleness, his industry had deserted him.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Ah, that little anthill! Everyone busy with his own affairs, crossing each other's path, elbowing each other aside, sometimes even trampling on each other. That's the way it is, sometimes they even trample on each other...”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Det var en glad Dag før ham, han hadde ikke rikere Glæder end naar han kunde gjøre godt på denne Maate og hævde Lærdommens og Bokens Overlegenhet, det var hans Levebrød og hans Lidenskap. En Lidenskap skal Mennesket ha, somme trodser Ild og Vand for at faa bøie Verber.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“At hun ikke hadet faret vild kom av at hun overhodet ikke for.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“De sier hun er melle firti og femti, men hun er mindst seksti, ropte han, og er slikt menneskelig? Gå og vifte med næseborene akkruat som med kaninører når hun er i støvets år og alder.”
― Knut Hamsun , The Women at the Pump

“Han måtte rehabilitere seg ved et bedrag; når han lot gjelde at han var som andre, at han var kommensurabel, så måtte jo stakkaren bruke sin egen målestokk og overtale seg til å tro på den. Han hadde kanskje sin lille lykke ved dette, han hadde iallfall ingen annen. Kunst altsammen altså? Kunst altsammen. Men intet dårlig kunstverk.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“...da var det skjænk og bakervarer for hver som kom ind i hans krambod, og somme hadde riktignok ingen skam, men kom to ganger og fik skjænk.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Intet kan være bedre, med søtvarer til er det paradis.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“...adskillige lækkerier, å hittil ukjendte nam-nam i dåser og sølvpapir, fra denne stund av var syltede pærer ikke længer et opspind og et æventyr for familjen Oliver...”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump

“Nu sitter de tre der og koser sig med hverandre og har denne lille hemmelighet med slikkerier sig imellem. Det er som de sitter og deler og spiser op tyvekoster, de skræmmer hverandre for spøk at mama kommer, bedstemor kommer, de stikker litt tilside til brødrene, til studenten og smeddrengen. Å det var ingen som denne far til å lage kalas for børn.
...så pludselig tror de å høre nogen komme, farn skynder sig å rydde bordet, han kaster i siste øieblik to hele hveteboller i munden og sitter derpå urørlig med kjæverne. Å han er så utstoppet og ustyrtelig komisk med sit alvorlige ansigt og sin mund fuld av hveteboller... Farn må stige op på en stol for å tygge ut. Tre børn.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Women at the Pump