Pierre Louÿs > Quotes

“I left the bed as she had left it, unmade and rumpled, coverlets awry, so that her body's print might rest still warm beside my own.

Until the next day I did not go to bathe, I wore no clothes and did not dress my hair, for fear I might erase some sweet caress.

That morning I did not eat, nor yet at dusk, and put no rouge nor powder on my lips, so that her kiss might cling a little longer.

I left the shutters closed, and did not open the door, for fear the memory of the night before might vanish with the wind.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Songs of Bilitis

“He crushes me so hard that I shall break, frail little creature that I know I am; but once he is in me nothing else exists, and I could have my four limbs cut away without awakening from my ecstasy.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Songs of Bilitis

“When he came back, I hid my face within my hands. He said: "Fear nothing. Who has seen our kiss? --Who saw us? The night and the moon."

"And the stars and the first flush of dawn. The moon has seen its visage in the lake, and told it to the water 'neath the willows. The water told it to the rower's oar.

"And the oar has told it to the boat, and the boat has passed the secret to the fisher. Alas! alas! if that were only all! But the fisher told the secret to a woman.

"The fisher told the secret to a woman: my father and my mother and my sisters, and all of Hellas now shall know the tale.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Songs of Bilitis

“Mother inexhaustible and incorruptible, creatures, born the first, engendered by thyself and by thyself conceived, issue of thyself alone and seeking joy within thyself, Astarte! Oh! Perpetually fertilized, virgin and nurse of all that is, chaste and lascivious, pure and revelling, ineffable, nocturnal, sweet, breather of fire, foam of the sea! Thou who accordest grace in secret, thou who unites, thou who lovest, thou who seizes with furious desire the multiplied races of savage beasts and the couplets the sexes in the wood. Oh, irresistible Astarte! hear me, take me, possess me, oh, Moon! and thirteen times each year draw from my womb the sweet libation of my blood!”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Songs of Bilitis

“...After you have done everything to please a man and he's taken his pleasure with you, all you are for him is a whore, and a whore's daughter.”
― Pierre Louÿs, Three Naughty French Novels

“I undressed to climb a tree; my naked thighs embraced the smooth and humid bark; my sandals climbed upon the branches. High up, but still beneath the leaves and shaded from the heat, I straddled a wide-spread fork and swung my feet into the void. It had rained. Drops of water fell and flowed upon my skin. My hands were soiled with the moss and my heels were reddened by the crushed blossoms. I felt the lovely tree living when the wind passed through it; so I locked my legs tighter, and crushed my open lips to the hairy nape of a bough.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Songs of Bilitis

“Si vous vous asseyez sur la cuisse gauche de monsieur votre père, ne vous frottez pas le cul sur sa pine pour le faire bander, à moins que vous ne soyez seule avec lui.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Young Girl's Handbook of Good Manners for Use in Educational Establishments

“Si monsieur votre père daigne éjaculer quelquefois dans votre petite bouche, acceptez cela les yeux baissés, et comme un grand honneur dont vous n’êtes pas digne. Surtout n’allez pas ensuite vous en vanter comme une sotte à l’oreille de votre maman.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Young Girl's Handbook of Good Manners for Use in Educational Establishments

“Quiero est un verbe étonnant qui veut tout dire. C'est vouloir, désirer, aimer, c'est quérir et c'est chérir. Tour à tour et selon le ton qu'on lui donne, il exprime la passion la plus impérative ou le caprice le plus léger. C'est un ordre ou une prière, une déclaration ou une condescendance. Parfois, ce n'est qu'une ironie”
― Pierre Louÿs, La Femme et le pantin (Le Livre de Poche t. 16070)

“Quiero è un verbo sorprendente, che vuol dire tutto. È volere, desiderare, amare, chiedere ed è prediligere. Di volta in volta, secondo il tono che gli vien dato, esprime la più imperativa delle passioni o il più lieve dei capricci. È un ordine o una preghiera, una dichiarazione o un assenso. Talora, non è che ironia.”
― Pierre Louÿs, Femme et le Pantin, La

“«— Что могу я сказать о любви? — проговорил задумчиво приглашённый. — Этим именем я называю боль — и утешение в страданиях. Есть лишь два способа стать несчастным: либо желать того, чего у тебя нет и быть не может, либо наконец обладать тем, чего желал ранее. Любовь сплошное несчастье, ибо она начинается с первого и кончается вторым. Да хранят нас от любви могущественные боги!»

Пьер Луис «Афродита»”
― Pierre Louÿs

“«Разве ты считаешь себя Адонисом, которому дозволено касаться богини?»

Пьер Луис «Афродита»”
― Pierre Louÿs

“When all the laces are undone, when all the petticoats have fallen, the woman is dressed only in her perfume.”
― Pierre Louÿs

“«<...> я вернулся из этой страны. Ничто и никто больше не заставит меня оказаться там вновь. Нельзя дважды быть счастливым одним и тем же счастьем. Я не хочу смешивать воспоминания.»

Пьер Луис «Афродита»”
― Pierre Louÿs

“Rien n’est plus vilain qu’une petite fille qui regarde bander son frère et ne fait rien pour le soulager.”
― Pierre Louÿs, The Young Girl's Handbook of Good Manners for Use in Educational Establishments