A Woman's Story Quotes

“I believe I am writing about my mother because it is my turn to bring her into the world.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“I shall never hear the sound of her voice again. It was her voice, together with her words, her hands, and her way of moving and laughing, which linked the woman I am to the child I once was. The last bond between me and the world I come from has been severed.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“With so much misery around, fighting for social advancement had lost all meaning.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Parting with one's family was invariably seen as a sign of misfortune. (In Norman French, "ambition" refers to the trauma of separation; a dog, for instance, can die of ambition.)”
― Ernaux Annie, A Woman's Story

“Ya no volveré a oír su voz. Es ella, con sus palabras, sus manos, sus gestos, su manera de reír y de caminar, la que unía a la mujer que soy con la niña que fui. Perdí el nexo con el mundo del que salí.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“She knew all the household tips that lessened the strain of poverty. This knowledge - handed down from mother to daughter for many centuries - stops at my generation. I am only the archivist.”
― Ernaux Annie, A Woman's Story

“Me parece que ahora escribo sobre mi madre para, a mi vez, traerla al mundo.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“When I think of my mother’s violent temper, outbursts of affection, and reproachful attitude, I try not to see them as facets of her personality but to relate them to her own story and social background. This way of writing, which seems to bring me closer to the truth, relieves me of the dark, heavy burden of personal remembrance by establishing a more objective approach. And yet something deep down inside refuses to yield and wants me to remember my mother purely in emotional terms—affection or tears—without searching for an explanation.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Until I was twenty, I thought I was responsible for her growing old.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“She preferred giving to everybody, rather than taking from them. Isn’t writing also a way of giving?”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“And here her story stops for there was no longer a place for her in society. She was slowly turning insane.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“before. (I have just read in a newspaper that “despair is a luxury.” The book I started writing after my mother’s death—a book that I have both the time and the ability to write—may also be seen as a form of luxury.)”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“those days, curiosity carried the seeds of vice.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“learn. In her opinion, self-improvement was first and foremost a question of learning and nothing was more precious than knowledge.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“My writing would never have been what it is had I not met my aunt that day.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“in a small town where people’s main concern was to learn as much as they could about their neighbors, one was inevitably torn between wanting to “enjoy one’s youth” and fearing for one’s reputation.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“She knew all the household tips that lessened the strain of poverty. This knowledge—handed down from mother to daughter for many centuries—stops at my generation. I am only the archivist.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Parting with one’s family was invariably seen as a sign of misfortune. (In Norman French, “ambition” refers to the trauma of separation; a dog, for instance, can die of ambition.)”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“This book can be seen as a literary venture as its purpose is to find out the truth about my mother, a truth that can be conveyed only by words. (Neither photographs, nor my own memories, nor even the reminiscences of my family can bring me this truth.) And yet, in a sense, I would like to remain a cut below literature.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Annem hakkında yazıyorum çünkü onu dünyaya getirme sırası sanırım bende.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“It’s stupid not to know when in our lives we’ll be happiest.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Living with us was like living in a world that welcomed her and rejected her at the same time.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Because she feared people wouldn't love her for who she was, she hoped they would love her for what she could give.”
― Annie Ernaux, A Woman's Story

“Ci rivolgevamo la parola con quel tono particolare, un misto di irritazione e perenni rimostranze, che faceva sempre pensare, a torto, che stessimo litigando, e che saprei riconoscere, tra una madre e una figlia, in qualsiasi lingua.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“İnsan zihnini donatmalı.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“Eğitimli olmak istemekle, eğitimli olmak arasında uçurum olduğunu da keşfetmiştim.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“Bana sunduğu tek şey endişesi ve şüphesiydi.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“Etrafta bunca sefalet varken toplumsal ilerleme için çırpınmak tüm anlamını yitirmişti.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“... bana bu konuda hiçbir şey söylemedi, ben de ona herhangi bir şey sormaya cesaret edemezdim çünkü merak zaten ahlaksızlığın başlangıcı gibi düşünülüyordu.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme

“İnsanların ona olduğu gibi sevmeyeceklerinden korktuğu için, vereceği şeylerle sevilmeyi umuyordu.”
― Annie Ernaux, Une femme