Sébastien Bernard

“At the bar on the Favoritenstrasse, Julius the policeman talked to us about dignity, evolution, the great Darwin and the great Nietzsche. I translated so that my good friend Ulises could understand what he was saying, although I didn’t understand any of it. The prayer of the bones, said Julius. The yearning for health. The virtue of danger. The tenacity of the forgotten. Bravo, said my good friend Ulises. Bravo, said everyone else. The limits of memory. The wisdom of plants. The eye of parasites. The agility of the earth. The merit of the soldier. The cunning of the giant. The hole of the will. Magnificent, said my good friend Ulises in German. Extraordinary.”
― Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives

“I met an oaktree: as tall as my finger, and it was suffering. Of its four leaves, two were completely yellow. The others were drooping and had no sheen.

I could discover no enemy in the neighborhood, nor any excessive competition.

Some skillful parasite must have slipped into it. An oak, so what? what's that to a parasite?

So, I ripped it out, root and dead leaves, and up you go!

It's supposed to be tenacious, but to start living again when it was that far gone, no! it hadn't learned enough for that”
― Henri Michaux, Plume: précédé de Lointain intérieur

“Im Schlaf

Er traf einen Baum.
Er baute darunter sein Haus.
Er schnitt aus dem Baum
einen Stock heraus.
Der Stock wurde seine Lanze.
Die Lanze wurde sein Gewehr.
Das Gewehr wurde seine Kanone.
Die Kanone wurde seine Bombe.
Die Bombe traf sein Haus und riß
den Baum an dem Wurzeln aus.
Er stand dabei und staunte,
aber auf wachte er nicht.”
― Ernst Jandl

“I'm not here to be stronger than you.”
― Sophie Podolski, Le pays où tout est permis / The Country Where Everything Is Permitted