Agota Kristof Quotes & Sayings

The people have already atoned
For the past and the future — Agota Kristof

I had only one desire: to leave, to walk, to die, whatever. I wanted to get away, never come back, disappear, melt away into the forest, the clouds, no longer have memories, forget, forget. — Agota Kristof

You don't want to fight the enemy anymore?"
"I don't want to fight anyone. I have no enemies. I want to go home. — Agota Kristof

My walls no longer protect me. They never protected me. Their solidity is mere illusion, their whiteness is stained — Agota Kristof

On our way home we throw the apples, the biscuits, the chocolate and the coins in the tall grass by the roadside. It is impossible to throw away the stroking on our hair — Agota Kristof

It is easier to give than to receive, is that it? Pride is a sin, Father — Agota Kristof

And death hasn't come. It never does come when you call it. It enjoys torturing us. I've been calling for it for years and it pays me no attention — Agota Kristof

Death will obliterate everything soon — Agota Kristof

Don't be sentimental. Everything dies — Agota Kristof

People are cruel. They like to kill. It's the war that has taught them that. And there are explosives lying around everywhere — Agota Kristof

I answer that I try to write true stories but that at a given point the story becomes unbearable because of it's very truth, and then I have to change it. I tell her that I try to tell my story but all of a sudden I can't-I don't have the courage, it hurts too much. And so I embellish everything and describe things not as they happened but the way I wished they happened.
She says, "Yes, there are lives sadder than the saddest of books." I say, "Yes. No book, no matter how sad, can be as sad as a life. — Agota Kristof

Crying is no use, you know. We never cry, even though we aren't men yet, like you — Agota Kristof

As soon as you begin to think, you can no longer love life — Agota Kristof

Every one of us commits a fatal mistake sometime in his life. When we realize it, the damage is already done — Agota Kristof

It's hardly matters whether it's true or false. The point is the slander. People love scandal — Agota Kristof