Pain doesn't listen to reason, it has it's own reason, which is not reasonable

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

Young is the one that plunges in the future and never looks back.

In Irena’s head the alcohol plays a double role: it frees her fantasy, encourages her boldness, makes her sensual, and at the same time it dims her memory. She makes love wildly, lasciviously, and at the same time the curtain of oblivion wraps her lewdness in an all-concealing darkness. As if a poet were writing his greatest poem with ink that instantly disappears.

Love is a desire for that lost half of ourselves.

The border between good and evil is terribly fuzzy.

Tereza had gone back to sleep; he could not. He pictured her death. She was dead and having terrible nightmares; but because she was dead, he was unable to wake her from them. Yes, that is death: Tereza asleep, having terrible nightmares, and he unable to wake her.