P.25 We forgot him.
⠀We were beset again from all sides by the
mournful greyness of the city which crept through the windows with the
dark rash of dawn, with the mushroom growth of dusk, developing into the
shape fur of long winter nights. The wallpaper of the rooms, blissfully
unconstrained in those former days and accessible to the multicoloured
flights of the birds, closed in on itself and gardened, becoming engrossed
int he monotony of bitter monologues.
P.99 Can one wonder? Man was entering under false pretences the sphere of
incredible facilities, acquired too cheaply, below cost price, almost for
nothing, and the disproportion between outlay and gain, the obvious fraud
on nature, the excessive payment for a trick of genius, had to be offset
by self-parody. The cyclist rode on among elemental outburst of laughter —
miserable victors, martyrs to their genius — so great was the comic appeal
of these wonders of technology.
P.172 Why, in spite of this, did I have the feeling of having been there
already — a long time ago? Don’t we in fact know in advance all the
landscapes we see in our life? Can anything occur that is entirely new,
that in the depths of our being, we have not anticipated for a long time?
P.261 Even stranger things happen here — things that I try to conceal from
myself and that are quite fantastic in their absurdity. Whenever I leave
our room, I have the impression that someone who has been standing behind
the door moves quickly away and turns a corner. Or somebody seems to be
walking in front of me, not looking back. It is not a nurse. I know who it
is! “Mother!” I exclaim, in a voice trembling with excitement, and my
mother turns her face to me and looks at me for a moment with a pleading
smile. Where am I? What is happening here? What maze have I become
entangled to?
P.316 Here events are not ephemeral surface phantoms; they have roots sunk
into the deep of things and penetrate the essence. Here decisions take
place every moment, laying down precedents once and for all. Everything
that happens here happens only once and is irrevocable. This is why such
weightiness, such heavy emphasis, such sadness inheres in what takes
place.