“ I take the book stopped at a fold, deliver myself to its pace, to the breathing of the other storyteller. If I am someone else, it's also because books move men more than journeys or tears.After many… Erri De Luca
“ I read used books because fingerprint-smudged and dog-eared pages are heavier on the eye. Because every book can belong to many lives. Books should be kept in public places and step out with passersby… Erri De Luca
“ I'm not that man anymore. No one can stay that way too long. That's why wars end and a later generation catches its breath looking forward and erasing what's behind. Erri De Luca
“ You stay in the war because it would be shameful to stay out of it. An then grief seizes you and hold its grip till anger has turned you into a soldier. Erri De Luca
“ I grow fond of David, who lays a single stone before Goliath and a single book, the Psalms, in the mouth of the world. Erri De Luca
“ On the brink of sleep I have a gloomy thought: that saving yourself is only pushing yourself even deeper into the trap rather than getting out. Dying is the only way out. Erri De Luca
“ I see the pain of miserly love in young people,' I say. 'You don't have that kind of melancholy on your face. But I'm careful not to step on your feet when I speak with you. It's not like dancing. It'… Erri De Luca
“ This is what books should do: Carry a person and not be carried by him; take the day off his back, not add its own ounces of paper to his vertebrae. Erri De Luca
“ A man dies and his skin loses heat like the sand on a summer evening. It makes you feel like warming him up. Erri De Luca
“ Sometimes to take two steps in a row, one after the other, I need to make a contract with myself. Erri De Luca
“ I can hardly keep track of the things I don't know, but every now and then comes an ignorance that makes me nostalgic. Erri De Luca
“ Do you really know yourself so well or are you making it up?' she asks. Some things I concoct, some I glean from my senses, most I thirst for. Erri De Luca
