Requiem Quotes

“personally I don't trust literature that soothes people's consciences.”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination

“Listen, my dear, she said, this can't go on, you can't live in two worlds at once, in the world of reality and the world of dreams, that kind of thing leads to hallucinations, you're like a sleepwalker walking through a landscape with your arms outstretched, and everything you touch becomes part of your dream, even me, a fat old woman weighing one hundred seventy-five, I can feel myself dissolving into the air at the touch of your hand, as if I was becoming part of your dream too.”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination

“eu acho que o herpes é um pouco como o remorso, fica adormecido dentro de nós e um belo dia acorda e ataca-nos, e depois volta a adormecer porque nós conseguimos amansá-lo, mas fica sempre dentro de nós, não há nada a fazer contra o remorso”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination

“(...)é melhor usar a pena do que as mãos, é uma maneira mais elegante de dar bofetadas.”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination

“This story, which takes place one a Sunday in July in a hot, deserted Lisbon, is the Requiem that the character I refer to as “I” was called on to perform in this book. Were someone to ask me why I wrote this story in Portuguese, I would answer simply that a story like this could only be written in Portuguese; it's as simple as that. But there is something else that needs explaining. Strictly speaking, a Requiem should be written in Latin, at least that's what tradition prescribes. Unfortunately, I don't think I'd be up to it in Latin. I realised though that I couldn't write a Requiem in my own language and I that I required a different language, one that was for me A PLACE OF AFFECTION AND REFLECTION.”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination

“Preferisco l'angoscia ad una pace marcia, affermò lui, tra le due cose preferisco l'angoscia.”
― Antonio Tabucchi, Requiem: A Hallucination