Alberta and Jacob Quotes

“The truth was Alberta only knew what she did not want. She had no idea what she did want. And not knowing brought unrest and a giddy sensation under her heart. She existed like a negative of herself, and this flaw was added to all the others.
To get away, out into the world! Beyond this all details were blurred. She imagined somewhere open, free, bathed in sunshine. And a throng of people, none of them her relatives, none of whom could criticize her appearance and character, and to whom she was not responsible for being other than herself.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“But Alberta sat there wretchedly. God knows who put the words into her mouth. They were not her own. They were foreign to her, stupid words behind which she hid herself. Her own never saw the light of day, they died unborn or withered on her tongue and were born distorted. She was disabled, she was without the use of speech, she would die of muteness.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“La vida no repara en exigencias, no se inhibe y no tiene en consideración las capacidades de cada uno.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“En stor forlatthetsfølelse, noe i retning av hva eneste overlevende etter en katastrofe på havet kan tenkes å kjenne, isner Alberte. Hennes hjerte trekker seg sammen til en liten hard og hamrende klump, men hun skyter opp i livet, og går på av alle krefter i dypsneen. Høyt oppskjørtet, rød og het, inn i uhyggen. Hun flykter fra sin egen evige misdederfornemmelse, fra den smertelige bevissthet om sin egen person som aldri forlater henne, og hun har ingen andre steder å flykte hen.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“Det gjelder å komme på det rene med hvor i tiden man er.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“It was not altogether easy when one's daughters were too gifted, it really wasn't. Mrs. Lossius nodded in the direction of Harriet, who, well brought up and virtuous, was busy with the coffee kettle. "You can be glad, Mrs Pram, that your daughters are not gifted in any particular direction.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“Jacob was to travel second class. This alone was inexpressibly tragic.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“It placed its finger roughly on sore places.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“Alberta was back again. Back to it all, to all that was warped and desultory, to the lies and evasions and small, hidden irons in the fire, to humiliation and hopeless longing, to the grey road of uniform days.
To live in spite of it, to live on as best she could, with her two warring natures: one that willed, no-one knew how far - one that could let itself be bound any time and anywhere. To live and lie and listen her way forward, to seek haphazardly in her tomes, to wait and see...”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“Alberta felt her face grow old and shrivelled at her own words. She was a shadow already, half old, distressing, comic. Something happened from year to year, suspicion became knowledge, bad dreams reality.
A weariness crept over her, more intense and pervasive than any she had known before. It sat in her back, sapping her strength. She sank down into it as if it were an abyss, sank inwards into gaping emptiness.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“One morning there was newly fallen snow in the mountains. It lay halfway down them, and a raw cold, naked and biting, set in from above. It arrived in the night and dug its claws into Alberta, gripping her from behind between her shoulder blades and buckling her tightly into the old enforced position with her legs drawn up and her arms crossed over her breast, keeping her awake for hours. Now she wrapped herself in a nightgown again, shivering and quaking, with the prospect of her own greyish-violet winter face in the mirror.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob

“For a moment they all stood silent. The departure of this autumn ship gave rise to many different thoughts. Something came out of hiding in the most hardened.”
― Cora Sandel, Alberta and Jacob