Patrick Süskind citations

“Une contrebasse, c'est plutôt, comment dire, un embarras qu'un instrument.”

“Dans son immobilité, il avait l'air d'être son propre inventaire.”

“Être soi-même un gros alambic qui inonderait le monde des parfums qu'il aurait créés seul, tel était le rêve fou auquel s'abandonnait Grenouille.”

“… he came to the conclusion that you cannot depend on people, and that you can live in peace only if you keep them at arm's length.”

“He succeeded in being considered totally uninteresting. People left him alone. And that was all he wanted.”

“There was only one thing the perfume could not do. It could not turn him into a person who could love and be loved like everyone else. So, to hell with it he thought. To hell with the world. With the perfume. With himself”

“When they finally did dare it, at first with stolen glances and then candid ones, they had to smile. They were uncommonly proud. For the first time they had done something out of Love.”

“He decided in favor of life out of sheer spite and malice.”

“… talent means nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.”

“Not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one, an excitement burning with a cold flame.”

“He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.”

“People left him alone. And that was all he wanted.”

“She was indeed a girl of exquisite beauty. She was one of those languid women made of dark honey smooth and sweet and terribly sticky.”

“He had withdrawn solely for his own personal pleasure, only to be near to himself. No longer distracted by anything external, he basked in his own existence and found it splendid.”

“He had preserved the best part of her and made it his own: the principle of her scent.”

“And suddenly solitude fell across his heart like a dusty reflection. He closed his eyes. The dark doors within him opened and he entered. The next performance in the theater of Grenouille's soul was beginning.”

“It was good, really, that this external world still existed, if only as a place of refuge.”

“How quickly the apparently solidly laid foundation of one's existence could crumble.”

“And because people are stupid and use their noses only for blowing, but believe absolutely anything they see with their eyes, they will say it is because this is a girl with beauty and grace and charm.”

“He had escaped the abhorrent taint! He was truly completely alone! He was the only human being in the world!”