---
title: 'The Fall [trans Robin Buss]'
author: Ben
type: quotes
date: -001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00
draft: true
url: '/?post_type=quotes&p=6812'

---
&#8216;[Sympathy]&#8217;s the emotion felt by a prime minister or company chairman: you get it cheap after some disaster. Friendship is not so easy: It&#8217;s long and hard to win, but when it&#8217;s there, you can&#8217;t get rid of it, you have to make do.&#8217;  
&#8211; Jean-Baptiste Clamence, p 20

&#8216;We&#8217;ve reached the age of lucidity: dialogue has been replaced by communiqués. &#8220;Here&#8217;s the truth,&#8221; we say. &#8220;You can argue over it if you wish, we don&#8217;t care, but in a few years the police will come and show you I&#8217;m right.&#8221;&#8216;  
&#8211; ibid, p 29

&#8216;My good fellow, I have to admit, with all humility, that I have always been supremely vain. Me, me, me: that&#8217;s the refrain that runs through my precious life and you could hear it in everything I said. I have never been able to speak without boasting, especially if I did so with that resounding restraint that I was so good at.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 30

&#8216;It&#8217;s that I have always lived free and in control. Quite simply, I felt liberated in my relations with others for the excellent reason that I recognized no equal to myself. I have always considered myself more intelligent than anyone, as I told you, but also more sensitive and more skilled, a crack shot, a peerless driver, the best lover.; Even in areas where I could easily recognize my inferiority, such a tennis, it was hard for me to believe that, if I had time to train, I should not outclass the top seeds. I saw only superiority in myself, which explained my benevolence and peace of mind. When I did care for another person, it was out of pure condescension, freely conceded, and all the merit was mine.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 31

&#8216;You see, I can&#8217;t stand being bored, and the only thing I really enjoy in life is entertainment.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 37

&#8216;Once you&#8217;re dead, they&#8217;ll take the opportunity to assign idiotic or vulgar motives to your action. My dear friend, martyrs should choose to be forgotten, mocked or exploited. As for being understood, never.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 47

&#8216;I appeared hard, yet I have never been able to resist the offer of a drink or a woman! I was considered active and energetic, yet my kingdom was the bed. I proclaimed my loyalty, yet I think that there is not a single person that I loved whom I did not also eventually betray.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 53

&#8216;With courtesy and a deeply felt sense of solidarity, I daily spat in the faces of the blind.  
Frankly, is there any excuse for this? There is one, but it is so feeble that I can&#8217;t imagine using it. In any case, here it is: I have never been able to believe, deep inside, that human affairs are serious matters. I had no idea what was serious, only that I was not in everything that I saw, which seemed to me merely an amusing, or tedious game.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 54

&#8216;You&#8217;re wrong, dear fellow, the boat is going at a good pace. But the Zuyder Zee is a dead sea, or almost. With its flat shores, lost in the mist, one can&#8217;t tell where it starts of ends. So we&#8217;re proceeding with no points of reference and we can&#8217;t assess our speed. We&#8217;re going forward, but nothing changes. This is not sailing, but a dream.&#8217;  
&#8211; ibid, p 61