Sometimes I had the feeling that all of us in his family were like pets to him. The dog you take for a walk, the cat you play with and that curls up in your lap, purring, to be stroked - you can be fond of them, you can even need them to a certain extent, and nonetheless the whole thing - buying pet food, cleaning up the cat box, and trips to the vet - is really too much. Your life is elsewhere.
("The Reader")
More Quotes from Bernhard Schlink:
The tectonic layers of our lives rest so tightly one on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones, not as matter that has been fully formed and pushed aside, but absolutely present and alive. I understand this. Nonetheless, I sometimes find it hard to bear.Bernhard Schlink
The Odyssey is the story of motion both purposeful and purposeless, successful and futile. What else is the history of law?
Bernhard Schlink
I asked her about life, and it was as if she rummaged around in a dusty chest to get me the answers.
Bernhard Schlink
Is this what sadness is all about? Is it what comes over us when beautiful memories shatter in hindsight because the remembered happiness fed not just on actual circumstances but on a promise that was not kept?
Bernhard Schlink
Now to escape involves not just running away, but arriving somewhere.
Bernhard Schlink
It wasn't that I forgot Hanna. But at a certain point the memory of her stopped accompanying me wherever I went. She stayed behind, the way a city stays behind as a train pulls out of the station. It's there, somewhere behind you, and you could go back and make sure of it. But why should you?
Bernhard Schlink
Readers Who Like This Quotation Also Like:
Based on Topics: Cats Quotes, Dogs Quotes, Emotions Quotes, Family Quotes, Food Quotes, Life QuotesBased on Keywords: curls, purring, stroked
As long as enough people can be frightened, then all people can be ruled. That is how it works in a democratic system and mass fear becomes the ticket to destroy rights across the board.
James Bovard
I can remember feeling very angry, and saying no! I can do it myself! From that point of view it was very emotional for me to get myself to the point to sit in the chair and be "up".
Gregory Hines
Every dog has his day, unless he loses his tail, then he has a weak-end.
June Carter