La carte et le territoire Quotes

“Olga was nice, Olga was nice and loving, Olga loved him, he repeated to himself with a growing sadness as he also realised that nothing would ever happen between them again, life sometimes offers you a chance he thought, but when you are too cowardly or too indecisive to seize it life takes the cards away; there is a moment for doing things and entering a possible happiness, and this moment lasts a few days, a few weeks or even a few months, but it only happens once and one time only, and if you want to return to it later it's quite simply impossible. There's no more place for enthusiasm, belief and faith, and there remains just gentle resignation, a sad and reciprocal pity, the useless but correct sensation that something could have happened, that you just simply showed yourself unworthy of this gift you had been offered.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Life sometimes offers you a chance, he thought, but when you are too cowardly or too indecisive to seize it life takes the cards away; there is a moment for doing things and entering a possible happiness, and this moment lasts a few days, sometimes a few weeks or even a few months, but it happens once and one time only, and if you want to return to it later it's quite simply impossible. There's no more place for enthusiasm, belief, and faith, and there remains just gentle resignation, a sad and reciprocal pity, the useless but correct sensation that something could have happened, that you just simply showed yourself unworthy of this gift you had been offered.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“The triumph of vegetation is total.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Y todas las teorías de la libertad, desde Gide a Sartre, no son sino inmoralidades concebidas por solteros irresponsables.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“The world is mediocre,” Jed finally said. “And the person who committed this murder has increased the mediocrity in this world.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“- Vous vous intéressez aux vins?
- Ça me donne une contenance; ça fait français. Et puis il faut s'intéresser à quelque chose, dans la vie, je trouve que ça aide.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“If they can read in the eyes of a man an energy, a passion, then they find him attractive.”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

“obstinacy is perhaps the only human quality that matters at the end of the day, not only in the profession of the policeman but in many professions. At least in any that have something to do with the notion of truth.”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

“Qu’est-ce qui définit un home? Quelle est la question que l’on pose en premier a un homme, lorsqu’on souhaite s’informer de son état ? Dans certaines sociétés, on lui demande d’abord s’il est marié, s’il a des enfants ; dans nos sociétés, on s’interroge en premier lieu sur sa profession. C’est sa place dans le processus de production, et pas son statut de reproducteur, qui définit avant tout l’homme occidental.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“De la un anumit nivel în sus, un angajat nu are obligații doar față de firmă, ci și față de el însuși, trebuie să aibă grijă de cariera lui și s-o iubească, așa cum face Hristos cu Biserica și soția cu soțul ei, sau, cel puțin, trebuie să acorde problemelor ridicate de carieră acel minim de atenție în lipsa căruia va demonstra superiorilor săi consternați că nu va fi nicicând demn să-și depășească poziția de subaltern.”
― Michel Houellebecq, Harta și teritoriul

“Предната вечер Уелбек беше споделил, че е невъзможно да се напише роман поради същата причина, поради която е невъзможно и да се живее, и тя се крие в натрупването на тежести. Всички теории за свободата, от Жид до Сартр, са основани върху иморализми, формулирани от освободени от каквато и да било отговорност ергени. Такива като мен, беше добавил той, докато начеваше третата бутилка чилийско вино.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Човек може да работи в усамотение в продължение на години, впрочем това е единственият начин, ако иска действително да свърши някаква работа; идва обаче момент, когато го обзема желание да покаже плодовете на своя труд пред света не толкова за да бъде оценен, колкото да получи доказателство, че тези плодове съществуват и дори че самият той съществува; в недрата на един обществен вид индивидуалността не е нищо друго освен краткотрайна фикция.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“¿Qué es lo que define a un hombre? ¿Cuál es la primera pregunta que se le hace a un hombre cuando quieres informarte de su estado? En algunas sociedades le preguntan primero si está casado, si tiene hijos; en las nuestras, se le pregunta en primer lugar su profesión. Lo que define ante todo al hombre occidental es el puesto que ocupa en el proceso de producción, y no su estatuto de reproductor.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Undoubtedly, the best way for a consumer to have a good time in the 2010s was to turn to Korean products: for a car, Kia and Hyundai; for electronics, LG and Samsung.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“De plus en plus, les théories qui tentaient d’expliquer les phénomènes économiques, de prévoir leurs évolutions, lui apparaissaient a peu prés également inconsistantes, hasardeuses, elle était de plus en plus tentée de les assimiler a du charlatanisme pur et simple; il était même surprenant, se disait-elle parfois, qu’on attribue un prix Nobel d’économie, comme si cette discipline pouvait se prévaloir du même sérieux méthodologique, de la même rigueur intellectuelle que la chimie, ou que la physique.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Le dôme de l'Institut avait une vraie grâce, dut-il convenir un peu malgré lui. Évidemment, donner une forme arrondie à un bâtiment ne pouvait se justifier en aucune manière; sur le plan rationnel, c'était simplement de la place perdue. La modernité était peut-être une erreur, se dit Jed pour la première fois de sa vie. Question purement rhétorique, d'ailleurs: la modernité était terminée en Europe occidentale depuis pas mal de temps déjà.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Qué es lo que define a un hombre? ¿Cuál es la primera pregunta que se le hace a un hombre cuando quieres informarte de su estado? En algunas sociedades le preguntan primero si está casado, si tiene hijos; en las nuestras, se le pregunta en primer lugar su profesión. Lo que define ante todo al hombre occidental es el puesto que ocupa en el proceso de producción.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“You don’t understand,’ Franz said patiently. ‘It’s not a particular art form, or manner, that interests me, it’s a personality, a view of the artistic gesture, of its situation in society. If you came here tomorrow with a simple sheet of paper, torn from a spiral notebook, on which you’d written “I don’t even know if I want to continue with art at all”, I would exhibit this sheet without hesitation. Yet I’m not an intellectual. But you interest me.”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

“Her professional life could thus be summarised as teaching contradictory absurdities to social-climbing cretins, even if she avoided formulating it to herself in such stark terms.”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

“You can work alone for years, it’s actually the only way to work if truth be told; but there always comes a moment when you feel the need to show your work to the world, less to receive its judgement than to reassure yourself about the existence of this work, or even of your own existence, for in a social species individuality is little more than a short piece of fiction.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“I’ve more or less finished with the world as narration – the world of novels and films, the world of music as well. I’m now only interested in the world as juxtaposition – that of poetry and painting.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“— Картина... - каза замислено Уелбек. - Във всеки случай разполагам с достатъчно стени, където да я окача. Онова, с което действително разполагам в този живот, са стените.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Najbardziej lubię koniec grudnia, kiedy ciemno robi się o czwartej. Mogę włożyć pidżamę, łyknąć środek nasenny, położyć się do łóżka z butelką wina i książką. Tak żyję od lat. Słońce wstaje o dziewiątej, zanim człowiek się umyje i wypije parę kaw, robi się południe i trzeba przetrwać już tylko cztery godziny, co zazwyczaj udaje mi się bezboleśnie. Ale wiosna jest nie do zniesienia, niekończące się cudowne zachody słońca, jak w jakiejś pieprzonej operze, wciąż nowe kolory, nowe blaski; raz postanowiłem zostać tu przez całą wiosnę i lato; myślałem, że umrę, co wieczór byłem na skraju samobójstwa, przez ten zmrok, który godzinami nie chciał zapaść.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Joissakin yhteiskunnissa kysytään ensin, onko hän naimisissa ja onko hänellä lapsia; meidän yhteiskunnassamme ihmiseltä kysytään ensimmäiseksi ammattia. Länsimaisen ihmisen määrittää hänen paikkansa tuotantoketjussa, ei niinkään status suvunjatkajana.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“The world is weary of me, And I am weary of it. —CHARLES D’ORLÉANS”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

“Qu’est-ce qui définit un homme ? Quelle est la question que l’on pose en premier à un homme, lorsqu’on souhaite s’informer de son état ? Dans certaines sociétés, on lui demande d’abord s’il est marié, s’il a des enfants ; dans nos sociétés, on s’interroge en premier lieu sur sa profession. C’est sa place dans le processus de production, et pas son statut de reproducteur, qui définit avant tout l’homme occidental. »”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“¿Me aconsejas algún francés? –Jonquet –respondió Ferber sin vacilar–. Thierry Jonquet. En Francia es el mejor, en mi opinión.”
― Michel Houellebecq, El mapa y el territorio

“Helene's interest in economics had waned considerably over the years. More and more, the theories that tried to explain economic phenomena, to predict their developments, appeared almost equally inconsistent and random. She was more and more tempted to liken them to pure and simple charlatanism; it was even surprising, she occasionally thought, that they gave a Nobel Prize for economics, as if this discipline could boast the same methodological seriousness, the same intellectual rigor, as chemistry, or physics. And her interest in teaching had also waned considerably. On the whole, young people no longer interested her much. Her students were at such a terrifyingly low intellectual level that, sometimes, you had to wonder what had pushed them into studying in the first place. The only reply, she knew in her heart of hearts, was that they wanted to make money, as much money as possible; aside from a few short-term humanitarian fads, that was the only thing that really got them going. Her professional life could thus be summarized as teaching contradictory absurdities to social-climbing cretins, even if she avoided formulating it to herself in terms that stark.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Su padre se levantó, fue al baño y al volver se puso el abrigo. Durante los dos o tres minutos que duró la operación, Jed tuvo la sensación fugaz, alternativa, de que acababan de iniciar una nueva etapa en sus relaciones o, por el contrario, que no volverían a verse. Como su padre se plantaba finalmente delante de él, en una actitud de espera, dijo:
-Voy a llamarte un taxi.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire

“Lo que primero llamaba la atención era la ausencia total de muebles, lo cual era posible gracias a la utilización sistemática de pequeñas diferencias de nivel a la altura del suelo. De este modo, las zonas destinadas a dormitorios eran excavaciones rectangulares de cuarenta centímetros de profundidad: uno bajaba a la caba en vez de subirte a ella. Las bañeras eran igualmente grandes pilas redondas cuyo reborde estaba situado a ras de suelo.”
― Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire