Amélie Nothomb said this quote

Society conspires against her from early infancy. Her brain is steadily filled with plaster until it sets: ‘If you’re not married by the time you’re twenty-five, you’ll have good reason to be ashamed’; ‘if you laugh, you won’t look dignified’ ; ‘if your face betrays your feelings, you’ll look coarse’; ‘if you mention the existence of a single body hair, you’re repulsive’ ; ‘if a boy kisses you on the cheek in public, you’re a whore’; if you enjoy eating, you’re a pig’; ‘if you take pleasure in sleeping, you’re no better than a cow’; and so on.These precepts would be merely anecdotal if they weren’t taken so much to heart.

~ Amélie Nothomb

It is too sad . I must speak to him- The do you really ?- Sure . How can you expect things to get better , if we do not speak?- Earlier , you talked to Mr. Omochi . Do you feel that things have thus been arranged?- What is certain is that if we do not talk , there is no chance to solve the problem.- What seems more certain is that if we talk, there is serious risk of aggravating the situation.

~ Amélie Nothomb

Behind every work of art lies the enormous pretension of exhibiting one's vision of the world. If such obvious arrogance is not counterbalanced by the tribulations of doubt, all that remains is a monster who is to art what a fanatic is to faith.

~ Amélie Nothomb

My mind was not that of a conqueror, but that of a cow that spends its life chewing contentedly in the meadow of invoices, waiting for the train of eternal grace to pass by. How good it felt to exist without pride of ambition. To live in hibernation.

~ Amélie Nothomb