The best way to make a sort of peace, a fragile armistice to be sure, but precious all the same, with men, officers or not, is to let them bask and wallow in childish self-glorification. Thereโs no such thing as intelligent vanity. Itโs an instinct. And youโll never find a man who is not first and formenost vain. The role of admiring doormat is about the only one that one man is glad to tolerate in another. With these soldiers I had no need to tax my imagination.
Louis-Ferdinand CelineA man should be resigned to knowing himself a little better each day if he hasn't got the guts to put an end to his sniveling once and for all.
Louis-Ferdinand CelineOne can't relive one's life. Forgiveness is not what's difficult; one's always too ready to forgive. And it does no good, that's obvious.
Louis-Ferdinand CelineMan hardly comes in more than two varieties, wherever he is, whatever he does: workers and pimps ... they're either one or the other! ... and inventors, the worst kind of jobholder! ... they stand condemned! ... the writer who doesn't pimp along, peacefully plagiarizing, who doesn't pump out the pop stuff, he's had it! ... everybody hates him!
Louis-Ferdinand CelineThey came from the four corners of the earth, driven by hunger, plague, tumors, and the cold, and stopped here. They couldnโt go any futrther because of the ocean. Thatโs France, thatโs the French people.
Louis-Ferdinand CelineThe biggest defeat in every department of life is to forget, especially the things that have done you in, and to die without realizing how far people can go in the way of crumminess. When the grave lies open before us, let's not try to be witty, but record the worst of human viciousness we've seen without changing one word. When that's done, we can curl up our toes and sink into the pit. That's work enough for a lifetime.
Louis-Ferdinand Celine