Ida Thordis > Recent Status Updates

“I’m wondering, says Katharina, if I even know what I want. If I want anything anymore. If I exist. Isn’t that how you tell a person by what they want?”

Vita about Harold’s love for her: “To love me whatever I do. To believe my motives are not mean. Not to credit tales without hearing my own version. To give up everything and everybody for me in the last resort.”

“Trust in most marriages means fidelity. In theirs it meant that they would always tell each other of their infidelities, give warning of approaching emotional crises and, whatever happened, return to their common centre in the end.“

“My father advised me when I was about to be married, that ‘to sleep with only one person throughout your life would be like saying, “Wuthering Heights is the greatest novel in the English language, therefore I shall never read another”.’ “

“Time feels so sticky, it’s as though it had lost all its capacity for passing. The cake, glasses, and flowers that Katharina set out on the table in her attic room in another life will remain where they are for all eternity.”

“Once, twice, three times, he strikes her, each time Katharina flinches. Red welts appear straightaway on her skin. Then he puts his belt down, and applies his mouth to the red welts, which are already swollen. Only now, thinks Katharina, do I truly know him. Did he give himself up to her, or she to him? Or, if love is serious, are they distinguishable?”

“[…] man skal elske sine elever for at lade dem se, hvad man selv holder af; for at vise en flok unge mennesker sin begejstring, for at give dem indblik i sine tanker, sin bevægelse over et digt, vel vidende, at de vil kunne gøre sig lystige over det eller besvare det med stoneface eller med udfordrende ligegyldighed.”

“Historiens første bog opstod, da ordene som skrevet luft faldt til hvile på marven af en vandplante.”

“We never recover. Whoever bruised us left a mark that stays forever […]. You may seek to recover, and many of us are persuaded we have, until we realise that if we commit the same mistakes time and time again, it’s not because we keep choosing the wrong partner or because we don’t know how to love, but because new loves won’t help us heal from that ancient wound. All new love can do is mask the wound.”

“‘Pain’s like s sneaky reptile,’ said the stranger. ‘It appears on its own, inhabits your body for as long as it chooses, sometimes forever, and, if you’re lucky, it sneaks away without saying goodbye.”

“To live is to feel pain, he told himself, and to live in fear of pain is to refuse to live.”

“[…] but what writer or artist doesn’t live in that shifting territory between confidence and self-contempt?”

“Man kan lære heraf, at erobreren, så snart han tager staten i besiddelse, må gennemtænke alle mulige voldshandlinger og udføre dem på en gang for at undgå at begå nye hver dag, og for at kunne berolige sit folk ved at standse grusomhederne og vinde deres hjerter med velgerninger.”

“Den, som hjælper en anden til magten, ødelægger sig selv. For at hjælpe en anden til magten hører der dygtighed eller styrke, og begge dele gør den, man har hjulpet frem, mistroisk.”

“Stay away from the ones you love too much. Those are the ones who will kill you. What you want to live and be happy in the world is a woman who has her own life and lets you have yours.”

“Skader man nogen, skal man gøre det så grundigt, at man ikke behøver frygte hævn.”

“Hvor er det åndssvagt at være bange for havet, når nu du ved, at du kan dø af regndråber.” Seneca

“Ved at skrive det på disse sider, tager jeg byrden fra os, både barnet og mig. Her lægger jeg alt det frygtelige ved at blive mor. Her lægger jeg gåden, alt det jeg ikke forstår. Her lægger jeg ensomheden, adskillelsen fra barnets far […]. Denne bog skal blive en beholder, et fartøj for det, en mor ikke må være, splittet, tvivlende, ude af sig selv, ulykkelig.”

Hans krop skælver,
Fråden står ham om munden,
Kramper har forvrænget hans træk,
Men salige tårer
væder hans ligskjorte,
for han føler, at først efter
han rørte dødens bitre læber,
mærker hans hjerte livets sødme.