The Houseguest and Other Stories Quotes

“The daily exercise of suffering gives one the gaze of an abandoned dog and the colour of a ghost.

- Fragment of a Diary [July to August]”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest and Other Stories

“Of course it was painful that it had happened in such a sad and disagreeable way, but things don't happen the way we imagine they will--they happen the way they must.”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest and Other Stories

“It was a true stroke of genius to measure suffering by degrees, to assign
different categories and limits. Some say that pain lasts forever and never
runs out; but I believe that past the 10th degree of my scale, all that’s left is
the memory of pain, hurting only in recollection. At the beginning of my
training I believed it was best to ascend the scale gradually. Very quickly I
found this to be a poor experience. The knowledge and perfection of pain
requires flexibility, a wise application of its categories and nuances, and an
arbitrary rehearsal of its degrees. To move with ease from the 3rd to the 8th
degree, from the 4th to the 1st, from the 2nd to the 7th, and then run
through them in rigorous ascending and descending order . . . I hate to
interrupt this interesting explanation, but there’s water beneath my feet.”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest and Other Stories

“I wanted this day to be over, to wake up without that knot in my throat, without the mind-numbing sense of being torn apart.”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest: And Other Stories

“è stato davvero un colpo di genio misurare il dolore per gradi, attribuirgli un limite e una categoria. C'è chi sostiene che il dolore sia interminabile e non si esaurisca mai, eppure io credo che dopo il decimo grado della mia scala non resti altro che la memoria delle cose, che ferisce ormai solo nel ricordo.”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest and Other Stories

“She wasn’t bad at all- to be honest with herself, she had to admit that she looked quite good, but how sad, what awful luck that this body, so well formed, would wither away in the shadow of solitude, without knowing a single caress, a single moment of pleasure. She couldn’t help lamenting it.”
― Amparo Dávila, The Houseguest and Other Stories

“—Esta situación no puede continuar —le dije un día a Guadalupe.
—Tendremos que hacer algo y pronto —me contestó.
—¿Pero qué podemos hacer las dos solas?
—Solas, es verdad, pero con un odio…
Sus ojos tenían un brillo extraño. Sentí miedo y alegría.”
― Amparo Dávila, El huésped

“Nos hemos buscado a tientas desde el otro lado del mundo, presintiéndonos en la soledad y el sueño. Aquí estamos. Reconociéndonos a través del cuerpo”
― Amparo Dávila, El huésped