Sylvain Tesson Quotes & Sayings

Ideologies, like dogs, remain just outside the hermits door. — Sylvain Tesson

It is good to know that out there, in a forest in the world, there is a cabin where something is possible ... — Sylvain Tesson

Compulsive reading relieves the anxiety that comes from tramping through the forest of meditation in search of clearings. — Sylvain Tesson

To be "modern" means refusing to worry about where the benefits of progress actually come from. — Sylvain Tesson

I set the vodka glasses on the table, and we become gently drunk in the foetal warmth. The Australian woman doesn't quite get the picture. We have a brief exchange in English. 'Do you have a car?' she asks. 'No,' I reply. 'A TV?' 'No.' 'What if you have a problem?' 'I walk.' 'Do you go to the village for food?' 'There is no village.' 'Do you wait for a car on the road?' 'There is no road.' 'Are those your books?' 'Yes.' 'Did you write all of them?' I prefer people whose character resembles a frozen lake to those who are more like marshes. — Sylvain Tesson

The cabin will return to the soil when abandoned by its owner, yet in its simplicity it offers perfect protection against the seasonal cold without disfiguring the sheltering forest. With the yurt and the igloo, it figures among the handsomest human responses to environmental adversity. — Sylvain Tesson

I had no idea that reading it would lead me to a cabin. It's dangerous to open a book — Sylvain Tesson

Think about what this day might have been if my dear one, the only person on this earth whom I miss even when she's with me, had deigned to be here. Do not think about the reasons that led her not to come along. Get quietly drunk because of the impossibility of not thinking about the above. Rejoice at the coming of night that will hide the shit on my shitfaced face. — Sylvain Tesson

Those who can bear to observe only unwritten laws-they all head for the taiga. — Sylvain Tesson

To love is not to celebrate one's own reflection in the face of one's double, but to recognize the value of what one can never know. — Sylvain Tesson

I admire those believers who speak of such things with the same aplomb as if the'd just split a beer with God in the cabin next door. — Sylvain Tesson

The hermit, without access to the news of the day, owes it to himself to be up to date on the doings of ancient Rome. — Sylvain Tesson

Two German kayakers arrive from the north at nightfall. They set up camp on the cape beach, about a third of a mile from the cabin, and come up to recharge their equipment on my solar batteries. We have to look at their photos, their films, exchange e-mail addresses. When you meet someone nowadays, right after the handshake and a quick glance you write down the website and blog information. Conversation has given way to a session in front of the screen. Afterwards, you won't remember faces or tones of voice, but you'll have cards with scribbled numbers. Human society's dream has come true: we rub our antennae together like ants. One day we'll just take a sniff. — Sylvain Tesson