The great Beauty * Quotes

"I'm not a misogynist, I'm a misanthrope."

"I spent all my summers making plans for September. Not any longer. Now I spend the summer remembering the good intentions which vanished. In part because of laziness, in part because of carelessness. What's wrong with feeling nostalgic? It's the only distraction for those who've no faith in the future. Without rain August is coming to an end, and September isn't arriving. And I'm so ordinary. But there's no need to worry. It's alright, it's okay."

"The most important thing I discovered after turning 65 is, that I can't waste any more time doing things that I don't want to do."

Jeb: "What job do you do?"
Orietta: "I'm rich."
Jeb: "Great job."

"I took a vow of poverty and you can't talk about poverty you have to live it."

"This is how it always ends. With death. But first there was life, hidden beneath the blah, blah, blah... it's all settled beneath the chitter chatter and the noise, silence and sentiment, emotion and fear. The haggard, inconstant flashes of beauty. And then the wretched squalor and miserable humanity. All buried under the cover of the embarrassment of being in the world, blah, blah, blah... Beyond there is what lies beyond. And I don't deal with what lies beyond. Therefore... let this novel begin. After all... it's just a trick. Yes, it's just a trick."

"We're all on the brink of despair, all we can do is look each other in the face, keep each other company, joke a little... don't you agree?"