Quotes by Clarice Lispector

Who hasnt asked himself, am I a monster or is this what it means to be human?

Oh, dont pull your hand away from me, Ive promised myself that maybe by the end of this impossible narrative I shall understand, oh maybe it will be on Hells road that I shall be able to find what we need—but dont pull your hand away, even though I now know that the finding has to come on the road of what we are, if I can succeed in not sinking completely into what we are.

It’s hard for me to believe that I will die. Because I’m bubbling in a frigid freshness. My life is going to be very long because each instant is. The impression is that I’m still to be born and I can’t quite manage it.

I can feel myself holding a child, thought Joanna. Sleep, my child, sleep, I tell you. The child is warm and I am sad.

- How does it feel to have a daughter?- At times its like holding a warm egg in my hand.

Love? I wanted to go with him, to be on the stronger side, for him to spare me, like one who seeks shelter in the arms of the enemy to stay far from his arrows. It was different than love, I was finding out: I wanted him as a thirsty person desires water, without feelings, without even wanting to be happy.

“In the world there exists no aesthetic plane, not even the aesthetic plane of goodness.”

“I have grown weary of literature: silence alone comforts me. If I continue to write, it’s because I have nothing more to accomplish in this world except to wait for death. Searching for the word in darkness. Any little success invades me and puts me in full view of everyone. I long to wallow in the mud. I can scarcely control my need for self-abasement, my craving for licentiousness and debauchery. Sin tempts me, forbidden pleasures lure me. I want to be both pig and hen, then kill them and drink their blood.”

“I write and that way rid myself of me and then at last I can rest.”

“Do not mourn the dead. They know what they are doing.”