Status Updates From Ένας άνδρας πενήντα ετών

I no longer properly belonged to myself, and in the end this meant that I was not happy. I no longer liked myself; I could rearrange myself in front of the mirror as much as I wished, it always seemed as though I was dressing for a masquerade. But ever since she placed her mirror in front of me, ever since I became aware of how one could adorn oneself from the inside out, I once again see myself as beautiful.

At the threshold where he now found himself, he realised with great force that the years, which at first bring one beautiful gift after another, gradually begin to take them back. A missed vacation to the baths, a summer passed without enjoyment, an absence of the usual mobility, all this caused him to notice certain physical discomforts to which he took great offence and showed more impatience than was reasonable.

It was now possible to foresee a favourable conclusion. As agreeable as this was, with all the give and take in the matter, the honourable major realised that a good degree of untidiness was required in life to make things tidy.

He had occasion to notice that the enactment and completion of a well-conceived idea is often subject to so many obstacles and so many coincidences that it often threatens to disappear entirely. Just as it seems to vanish for good, in the middle of so much confusion, success seems possible once more, when time, the best ally of an indefatigable perseverance, offers her helping hand.