"I have grown weary of literature: silence alone comforts me. If I continue to write, it’s because I have nothing more to accomplish in this world except to wait for death. Searching for the word in darkness. Any little success invades me and puts me in full view of everyone. I long to wallow in the mud. I can scarcely control my need for self-abasement, my craving for licentiousness and debauchery. Sin tempts me, forbidden pleasures lure me. I want to be both pig and hen, then kill them and drink their blood."

38 likes

Source: Clarice Lispector (1986). “The Hour of the Star”, p.70, New Directions Publishing

About the author

Clarice Lispector

Novelist, Short Story Writer

Clarice Lispector was a Brazilian writer known for her introspective novels and short stories that explore themes of identity, love, and existence.

All quotes by Clarice Lispector →

Same author

More quotes by Clarice Lispector

See all →
Clarice Lispector Novelist, Short Story Writer

"Putting my hand in someone else’s has always been my definition of happiness. Before I fall asleep, often - in that small struggle not to lose consciousness and go into the greater world - often, before I get up the courage to go into the vastness of sleep, I pretend that someone has my hand in theirs, and then I go, go to that enormous absence of form that is sleep. And when even after that I don’t have courage, I dream."

Read quote