AtomicQuote

Elena Ferrante Quote

Up or down, it seemed to us that we were always going toward something terrible that had existed before us yet had always been waiting for us, just for us. When you haven't been in the world long, it's hard to comprehend what disasters are at the origin of a sense of disaster: maybe you don't even feel the need to. Adults, waiting for tomorrow, move in a present behind which is yesterday or the day before yesterday or at most last week: they don't want to think about the rest. Children don't know the meaning of yesterday, or the day before yesterday, or even of tomorrow, everything is this: the street is this, the doorway is this, the stairs are this, this is Mamma, this is Papa, this is the day, this is the night.

Elena Ferrante

Up or down, it seemed to us that we were always going toward something terrible that had existed before us yet had always been waiting for us, just for us. When you haven't been in the world long, it's hard to comprehend what disasters are at the origin of a sense of disaster: maybe you don't even feel the need to. Adults, waiting for tomorrow, move in a present behind which is yesterday or the day before yesterday or at most last week: they don't want to think about the rest. Children don't know the meaning of yesterday, or the day before yesterday, or even of tomorrow, everything is this: the street is this, the doorway is this, the stairs are this, this is Mamma, this is Papa, this is the day, this is the night.

Tags: childhood

Related Quotes

Every corner and room of a house will carry memories, make these the most pleasurable times you shared with your family.

Anthony Liccione

Every corner and room of a house will carry memories, make these the most pleasurable times you shared with your family.

Tags: bond, cheerful, childhood, content, corner, dreams, encourage, family, gifted, good times

Maybe we're just falling stars, we once danced in the same skyline looking down at the world. And we've fallen like all others, from near and far, we've gathered together, but separated by time and sp...

Virgil Kalyana Mittata Iordache

Maybe we're just falling stars, we once danced in the same skyline looking down at the world. And we've fallen like all others, from near and far, we've gathered together, but separated by time and sp...

Tags: attached, beauty, believe, body, childhood, constellations, danced, death, dust, earth

Look at me! he would shout as he ran laughing through the halls of Storm's End. Look at me, I'm a dragon, or Look at me, I'm a wizard, or Look at me, look at me, I'm the rain god.The bold little boy w...

George R.R. Martin

Look at me! he would shout as he ran laughing through the halls of Storm's End. Look at me, I'm a dragon, or Look at me, I'm a wizard, or Look at me, look at me, I'm the rain god.The bold little boy w...

Tags: a song of ice and fire, asoiaf, childhood, fantasy, game of thrones, games, george r r martin, got, kings, renly baratheon

Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.

Asa Don Brown

Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.

Tags: child abuse, child trauma, childhood, childhood abuse, childhood trauma, childhood traumas, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychologist, psychology, ptsd

Some of the most evil human beings in the world are psychiatrists. Not all psychiatrists. Some psychiatrists are selfless, caring people who really want to help. But the sad truth is that in today's s...

Rebecca McNutt

Some of the most evil human beings in the world are psychiatrists. Not all psychiatrists. Some psychiatrists are selfless, caring people who really want to help. But the sad truth is that in today's s...

Tags: asocial, child innocence, childhood, colleague, creepy, crime, disorder, drug company, drugs, ethics

My father, [was] a mid-level phonecompany manager who treated my mother at best like an incompetent employee. At worst? He never beat her, but his pure, inarticulate fury would fill the house for days...

Gillian Flynn

My father, [was] a mid-level phonecompany manager who treated my mother at best like an incompetent employee. At worst? He never beat her, but his pure, inarticulate fury would fill the house for days...

Tags: abusive, abusive parents, anger, broken home, childhood, childhood memories, communication, divorce, emotional abuse, family

Parent should never forget the great excitement they felt for the birth of a new born into the world.

Lailah Gifty Akita

Parent should never forget the great excitement they felt for the birth of a new born into the world.

Tags: birth, child, child behavior, childbirth, childhood, children, excitement, exciting, new birth, new born

I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our de...

Kenny Guinn

I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our de...

Tags: best, abandonment, abuse, bureaucracy, child abuse, childcare, childhood, foster care, life, neglect

If we had to earn our age by thinking for ourselves at least once a year, only a handful of people would reach adulthood.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

If we had to earn our age by thinking for ourselves at least once a year, only a handful of people would reach adulthood.

Tags: adult, adults, age, age is nothing but a number, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist, aphorists, child, childhood

I was just four when a hired teenage field hand attempted to molest me. Miraculously, I got away, and I told my dad. My father made three important choices that day: He listened to me, he believed me,...

Carolyn Byers Ruch

I was just four when a hired teenage field hand attempted to molest me. Miraculously, I got away, and I told my dad. My father made three important choices that day: He listened to me, he believed me,...

Tags: awareness, believed, childhood, childhood sexual abuse, children, choices, encouragement, father, kids, listen
About Elena Ferrante

Elena Ferrante (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛːlena ferˈrante]) is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of Neapolitan Novels are her most widely known works.
Time magazine called Ferrante one of the 100 most influential people in 2016.