In the Café of Lost Youth Quotes

“For me the autumn has never been a sad season. The dead leaves and the increasingly shorter days have never suggested the end of anything, but rather an expectation of the future. In paris, there is an electricity in the air in october evenings at nightfall. Even when it is raining. i do not feel low at that hour of the day, nor do i have the sense of time flying by. i have the impression that everything is possible. the year begins in the month of october.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Quand on aime vraiment quelqu'un, il faut accepter sa part de mystère... et c'est pour ça qu'on l'aime...”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Dans cette vie qui vous apparaît quelquefois comme un grand terrain vague sans poteau indicateur, au milieu de toutes les lignes de fuite et les horizons perdus, on aimerait trouver des points de repère, dresser une sorte de cadastre pour n'avoir plus l'impression de naviguer au hasard. Alors, on tisse des liens, on essaye de rendre plus stables des rencontres hasardeuses.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“In this life that sometimes seems to be a vast, ill-defined landscape without signposts, amid all of the vanishing lines and the lost horizons, we hope to find reference points, to draw up some sort of land registry so as to shake the impression that we are navigating by chance. So we forge ties, we try to find stability in chance encounters.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“[…] ήθελε να δραπετεύσει, να φύγει όλο και πιο μακριά, να ξεκόψει βίαια απ’ την καθημερινή ζωή, για ν’ αναπνεύσει αέρα ελευθερίας. Ήταν κι εκείνος ο πανικός, πότε πότε, στην προοπτική ότι οι κομπάρσοι που έχεις αφήσει πίσω σου, μπορούν να σε ξαναβρούν και να σου ζητήσουν λογαριασμό. Πρέπει να κρυφτείς για να ξεφύγεις απ’ αυτούς τους εκβιαστές, ελπίζοντας ότι, μια μέρα, θα βρεθείς οριστικά έξω απ’ την εμβέλειά τους. Εκεί ψηλά, στον αέρα της κορυφής. Ή στον αέρα της ανοιχτωσιάς.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“As the years go by, many people and many things end up seeming so humorous and so pathetic that all you can do is try to look at them through the eyes of a child.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“We live at the mercy of certain silences. We have all known things about each other for a long time. So we try to avoid each other. It would be for the best, of course, if none of us were ever to see each other again.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“J'ai toujours cru que certains endroits sont des aimants et que vous êtes attirés vers eux si vous marchez dans leurs parages.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Sometimes you remember certain episodes of your life and you need proof that you haven't dreamed them.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“Je n'étais vraiment moi–même qu'à l'instant où je m'enfuyais. Mes seuls bons souvenirs sont des souvenirs de fuite ou de fugue.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“تتمشى نحوي بنفس خطاها الفاترة، من يراها يقول أنها تخفف من مشيتها، كما لو أن الزمن لا قيمة له.”
― باتريك موديانو, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Hẳn anh từng hi vọng già đi cùng cô ấy?”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Siempre he creído que hay lugares que son imanes y te atraen si pasas por las inmediaciones. Y eso de forma imperceptible, sin que te lo malicies siquiera. Basta con una calle en cuesta, con una acera al sol, o con una acera a la sombra. O con un chaparrón. Y te llevan a ese lugar, al punto preciso en el que debías encallar.”
― Patrick Modiano, En el café de la juventud perdida

“Can we really be held responsible for those questionable characters, not at all of our choosing, whose paths crossed ours as we were growing up?”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“Well, sure, I understood. In this life that sometimes seems to be a vast, ill-defined landscape without signposts, amid all of the vanishing lines and the lost horizons, we hope to find reference points, to draw up some sort of land registry so as to shake the impression that we are navigating by chance. So we forge ties, we try to find stability in chance encounters.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“For me, the Condé was a refuge from all the drabness I anticipated in life. There will one day be a part of me—the best part—that I will be forced to leave behind there.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“For me, autumn has never been a sad season. The dying leaves and the days that grow shorter and shorter have never evoked the end of something for me but instead brought with them anticipation for the future. In Paris, during these October evenings, there is an electricity in the air at dusk. Even when it rains. I don’t feel down at that time of night, nor does it seem that time is passing too swiftly. I have the feeling that anything is possible.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“No hay mejor sistema para que se desvanezcan los fantasmas que mirarles a los ojos.”
― Patrick Modiano, En el café de la juventud perdida

“Voleva evadere, fuggire sempre più lontano, rompere brutalmente con la vita quotidiana, per respirare all'aria aperta. E c'era poi, di tanto in tanto, quel timore panico di fronte alla prospettiva che le comparse che ti sei lasciato alle spalle potessero ritrovarti e venirti a chiedere conto di qualunque cosa. Bisognava nascondersi per sfuggire a quei ricattatori sperando un giorno definitivamente fuori dalla loro portata.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Khi thực sự yêu một người, thì ta cần phải chấp nhận cái phần bí ẩn của người ấy... Và chính vì thế mà ta yêu người ấy... Phải không hả, Roland?”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“Và rồi cũng có nỗi sợ bồn chồn đó, thỉnh thoảng, trước viễn cảnh các vai phụ mà ta để lại sau lưng có thể tìm thấy ta mà đòi tính sổ.”
― Patrick Modiano, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue

“I'm trying to recall what she said to me that night. It was all rather confused. Nothing but snippets. And it's too late to find the details I'm missing now, or those that I've somehow forgotten.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“By what right do we intrude, forcing our way in like common crooks, and by what presumptuousness do we delve into their heads and their hearts–and ask them to account for themselves? By what authority?”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“A bedroom empty forevermore, a bare mattress stripped of its sheets.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“We never grow up. As the years go by, many people and many things end up seeming so humorous and so pathetic that all you can do is try to look at them through the eyes of a child.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“There will one day be a part of me–the best part–that I will be forced to leave behind there.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“Sometimes during the quieter moments of the day, on the way home from the office, and often in the solitude of Sunday evenings, a detail comes back to me.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“For me, autumn has never been a sad season. The dying leaves and the days that grow shorter and shorter have never evoked the end of something for me but instead brought with them anticipation for the future. In Paris, during these October evenings, there is an electricity in the air at dusk. Even when it rains. I don't feel down at that time of night, nor does it seem that time is passing too swiftly. I have the feeling that anything is possible. The year begins in the month of October. That's when classes start again and to me it's the season to take on new projects.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“I once again experienced the feeling of anxiety that often overwhelmed me at night and was even more intense than fear—the sensation of being completely on my own, without anyone I could turn to. Not my mother, not anyone. I would have liked him to stay all night, on guard in front of the building, all night long and every night like a sentinel, or even better, watching over me like a guardian angel.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth

“WHEN I was fifteen years old, you would have thought I was nineteen, even twenty. My name wasn’t Louki then, it was Jacqueline. I was even younger than fifteen the first time I took advantage of my mother’s absence to go out. She went to work around nine o’clock in the evening and she didn’t come back before two in the morning. That first time, I had prepared a lie in case the concierge caught me in the stairwell. I was going to tell him that I needed to purchase some medicine from the pharmacy at place Blanche. I hadn’t been back to the neighborhood until the night Roland took me, by taxi, to the home of one of Guy de Vere’s friends. We were going there to meet everyone who regularly attended the lectures. We had only recently met at that point, Roland and I, and I wasn’t comfortable saying something when he had the taxi stop at place Blanche. He wanted us to walk a ways. Perhaps he didn’t notice how tightly I held on to his arm.”
― Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth