The Conformist Quotes

“desire for normality; a longing to adapt to some recognized and general rule; a wish to be like everyone else, from the moment that being different meant being guilty.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist: A Novel

“- Ты не можешь понять, что значит для женщины больше не быть молодой... это хуже смерти!
(Мать - Марчелло Клеричи)”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“...обладание истиной не только позволяет, но и заставляет действовать.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“He went up to the counter and asked for his preferred brand at the same time that three other people asked for the same cigarettes, and the tobacconist slid them rapidly across the marble of the countertop toward the four hands holding out money - four identical packs, which the four hands picked up with identical gestures. Marcello noticed that he took the pack, squeezed it to see if it was fresh enough, and then ripped off the seal the same way the other three did. He even noticed that two of the three tucked the pack back inte a small inner pocket in their jackets, as he did. Finally, one of the three stopped just outside the tobacconist’s to light a cigarette with a silver lighter exactly like his own. These observations stirred a satisfied, almost voluptuous pleasure in him. Yes, he was the same as the others, the same as everyone. The same as the men who bought the same brand of cigarettes, with the same gestures, even the men who turned at the passage of a women dressed in red, himself among them, to eye the quiver of her solid buttocks under the thin material of the dress. Even if, as in this last gesture, the similarity was due more to willed imitation in his case than to any real personal inclination.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“Aquella anormalidad que se traducía en su desapego, en su ausencia de la vida común? Los hombres normales no eran buenos, porque la normalidad se paga siempre, consciente o inconscientemente, a un precio muy caro, con una serie de complicidad, estupidez, vileza, cuando no precisamente de criminalidad.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“Giuro davanti a Dio che non toccherò mai più né i fiori, né le piante, né le lucertole.”
― Alberto Moravia, Il conformista

“No era fácil distinguir la claridad del miedo. Y tal vez la mejor solución consistiría en guardar, como siempre, una actitud decorosa e impasible.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“Se sentía completamente tranquilo, frío; si acaso, un poco triste; era una tristeza misteriosa que consideraba ya inseparable de su carácter.”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist

“Los hombres normales no eran buenos -siguió pensando- porque la normalidad se pagaba siempre, consciente o inconscientemente, a un precio muy caro y con una serie de complicidades varias, todas tan negativas; de insensibilidad, de estupidez, de vileza, cuando no derechamente de criminalidad”
― Alberto Moravia, The Conformist