The Night Guest Quotes

“The patriarchy speaks with my mother’s voice”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“Because there is nothing worse than having unexplained symptoms. Feeling like there’s something terribly wrong—but nothing that can be measured in exams, and you know the doctor thinks it’s all in your head.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“Recently, I’ve been almost entirely convinced that I’m doomed to this future: experiencing my nervous system’s gradual failure. I’ve wondered how it might feel when parts of my body stop working, one after the other. Maybe it starts with numbness in my fingertips. Then I lose control of my hands, followed by my arms. Then my feet. Then I’ll lose all sensation below the waist. Stop being able to turn my head, speak, smile, blink my eyes. Maybe I’ll learn to hold a brush with my mouth and paint a few pictures. Then my respiratory system will stop working, and I’ll die.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“It’s been my experience so far that it’s always better to sleep a little on such poisoned darts, before you let them fly.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“It's been my experience so far that it's always better to sleep a little on such poisoned darts, before you let them fly.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“Sometimes I wonder why I had bothered with the relationship. Because it’s not like I thought he was irresistible. I thought he was fairly handsome (before I got to know him), at least compared to the other louts who work with us. But Stefán is not charming, he is not funny, he is not entertaining, he is not smart, and he is not good in bed. He was not kind to me. He’s never sincere, he’s just parroting something he’s seen actors say in movies, and he never really means anything he says. Which made me realize something sad. I had just been bored.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“I want to be like … There was this silent man at a party I once went to somewhere near Vesturbæjarlaugin. He barely said a word all night but still everything revolved around him. The women tried to catch his eye, the men tried to make him laugh. But he just sat there silently—and for some reason we were all convinced that he must be the smartest man in the room. I have gradually come to the conclusion that this tactic only works for men. If you are a woman who is silent, then people assume you’re stupid and have nothing remarkable to say. And in my case, that’s true.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“I TRY MY best to ward off thoughts of the void—the fundamental meaningless nature of life and the truth that despite the choices we make every day we all still die. I focus on the pill I’m going to take tonight. How it is perfectly shaped. Smooth and round and white as the driven snow.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“LINDA IS ONE of those people who goes to sushi restaurants and orders nothing but tiny pieces of beef.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“I’m always startled by what she notices and does not notice.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“This always happens. Everyone will be having a good chat until I say something wrong and feel as though I’ve been exposed as the alien in the group. Ta-da! Did you think I was one of you? Hahaha!”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“I’m considering writing something disgusting back. Something nasty. That he is embarrassingly poor in bed and that I have HIV and herpes and hepatitis and that I came across his wife swimming and told her everything in front of his children and that I’ve called the police and told them that he pushed me down the stairs. But I decide to wait until I’ve come up with something truly repulsive. Less is more and all that. It’s been my experience so far that it’s always better to sleep a little on such poisoned darts, before you let them fly.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“Keep the secret for a few days, in order to hold something warm and soft in your heart, all alone.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“He barely said a word all night but still everything revolved around him. The women tried to catch his eye, the men tried to make him laugh. But he just sat there silently—and for some reason we were all convinced that he must be the smartest man in the room.
I have gradually come to the conclusion that this tactic only works for men. If you are a woman who is silent, then people assume you’re stupid and have nothing remarkable to say.”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest

“The patriarchy speaks with my mothers voice”
― Hildur Knútsdóttir, The Night Guest