...as long as nothing happens between them, the memory is cursed with what hasn't happened.
Interpretation
Unfulfilled connections can haunt our memories and hearts.
This quote reflects the idea that the absence of real experiences or actions in a relationship can lead to regret and a sense of longing. Marguerite Duras suggests that when two people have potential yet remain at a distance, it creates a curse of memories filled with 'what ifs' rather than fulfilling moments.
In practice
During a discussion on unfulfilled relationships, this quote can serve as a poignant reminder of the emotional weights we carry.
Alcohol doesn't console, it doesn't fill up anyone's psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn't comfort man. On the contrary, it encourages him in his folly, it transports him to the supreme regions where he is master of his own destiny.
What she said was always strange. It had happened long ago. It seemed insignificant. And yet it was something you remembered forever. The words as well as the story. The voice as much as the words.
I'm still there, watching those possessed children, as far away from the mystery now as I was then. I've never written, though I thought I wrote, never loved, though I thought I loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door.
Perhaps someone will have seen mine, the one Iβm waiting for, just as I saw him, in a ditch when his hands were making their last appeal and his eyes no longer could see. Someone who will never know what that man was to me; someone whose name Iβll never know.
Stormy skies, says Ernesto. He grieved for them. Summer rain. Childhood.
A prolonged silence ensues. The reason for the silence is our growing interest one for the other. No one is aware of it, no one yet; no one? am I quite sure?
Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man's attitude may be, that problem is hers - and before it can be his, it is hers alone.
Marriage...is the union of two people of different sexes with a view to the mutual possession of each other's sexual attributes for the duration of their lives.
Expressing our vulnerability can help resolve conflicts.
Few things in life are more embarrassing than the necessity of having to inform an old friend that you have just got engaged to his fiancee.
We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly.
A huge part of what animates homophobia among young people is paranoia and fear of their own capacity to be gay themselves.
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