Polemical debates happen all the time in France. Michel Houellebecq More Quotes by Michel Houellebecq More Quotes From Michel Houellebecq An entire life spent reading would have fulfilled my every desire; I already knew that at the age of seven. The texture of the world is painful, inadequate; unalterable, or so it seems to me. Really, I believe that an entire life spent reading would have suited me best. Such a life has not been granted me. Michel Houellebecq readingagebelieve Last election shows that there's a big discrepancy between two parts of the country. That discrepancy also exists in France, but we've had the National Front for forty years, and it only took Trump one year to get elected. Very fast. That's the surprising thing. In France we thought everybody liked Obama, but maybe the media were lying. Maybe they didn't. Michel Houellebecq electioncountrylying As a teenager, Michel believed that suffering conferred dignity on a person. Now he had to admit that he had been wrong. What conferred dignity on people was television. Michel Houellebecq teenagersufferingpeople There is no point in asking me general questions because I am always changing my mind. Michel Houellebecq changing-my-mindaskingmind This progressive effacement of human relationships is not without certain problems for the novel. How, in point of fact, would one handle the narration of those unbridled passions, stretching over many years, and at times making their effect felt on several generations? We’re a long way from Wuthering Heights, to say the least. The novel form is not conceived for depicting indifference or nothingness; a flatter, more terse, and dreary discourse would need to be invented. Michel Houellebecq passionlongyears If life is an illusion it's a pretty painful one. Michel Houellebecq illusionpainfullife-is I think she is going to find you too old... Yes that was it, the moment she said it I knew it was true, and the revelation caused me no surprise, it was like the echo of a dull, not unexpected shock. The age difference was the last taboo, the final limit, all the stronger for the fact that it remained the last and had replaced all the others. In the modern world you could be a swinger, bi, trans, zoo into S&M, but it was forbidden to be old. Michel Houellebecq echoeszoosthinking I don't like this world. I definitely do not like it. The society in which I live disgusts me; advertising sickens me; computers make me puke. Michel Houellebecq advertisingcomputerworld The triumph of vegetation is total. Michel Houellebecq vegetationtriumph My novels are all ideas. Michel Houellebecq novelideas Islam is a dangerous religion. Michel Houellebecq islamdangerous In my own writing, I think of myself as a realist who exaggerates a little. Michel Houellebecq writinglittlesthinking Rumor had it that he was homosexual; in reality, in recent years, he was simply a garden-variety alcoholic. Michel Houellebecq gardenrealityyears I feel as if things are falling apart within me, like so many glass partitions shattering. I walk from place to place in the grip of a fury, needing to act, yet can do nothing about it because any attempt seems doomed in advance. Failure, everywhere failure. Only suicide hovers above me, gleaming and inaccessible. Michel Houellebecq glassessuicidefall I think it's more difficult to live without a religion, definitely. Michel Houellebecq difficultthinking I think that if writers don't speak about real life, it's because they don't know it. Michel Houellebecq speakrealthinking On Sunday morning I went out for a while in the neighbourhood; I bought some raisin bread. The day was warm but a little sad, as Sundays often are in Paris, especially when one doesn't believe in God. Michel Houellebecq sundaymorningbelieve When a country is strong... it accepts any dose of pessimism from its writers. Michel Houellebecq pessimismstrongcountry Father died last year. I don't subscribe to the theory by which we only become truly adult when our parents die; we never become truly adult. Michel Houellebecq parentfatheryears I want to be loved despite my faults. It isn't exactly true that I'm a provocateur. A real provocateur is someone who says things he doesn't think, just to shock. I try to say what I think. Michel Houellebecq realtryingthinking
