Momo Quotes
"You must never think of the whole street at once, understand? You must only concentrate on the next step, the next breath, the next stroke of the broom, and the next, and the next. Nothing else."
"Anyone can get rich quick that way, but who wants to look like the people who’ve sold themselves body and soul for money’s sake? Well, they can count me out. Even if there are times when I don’t have the price of a cup of coffee, I’m still me. Guido’s still Guido!"
"She listened in a way that made slow-witted people have flashes of inspiration. It wasn’t that she actually said anything or asked questions that put such ideas into their heads. She simply sat there and listened with the utmost attention and sympathy, fixing them with her big, dark eyes, and they suddenly became aware of ideas whose existence they had never suspected."
"That way you enjoy your work, which is important, because then you make a good job of it. And that’s how it ought to be."
"Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart."
"So you see, ladies, this craterlike depression in the ruins before you used to be the dividing line between the old world and the new."
"Why, you're standing on it right now," Guido told her. "Our world, ladies, is his!"
"For want of a better idea, she decided to look into the magic mirror after all, thinking that it might carry her own reflection to the prince."
"Being well aware of this, Princess Momo took care not to do so. She'd always been quite content to live and play with her many other reflections."
"Everything's organized — every last move we make…"
"He suddenly felt guilty, as if he'd committed a fraud of some kind."
"Something in the nature of a blind obsession had taken hold of him."
"The ones who felt this most keenly were the children, because no one had time for them any more."
"People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else."
"Let's pretend you've come to pay me a visit," Momo suggested.
"Hello," said the doll. "I'm Lola, the Living Doll."
"How nice of you to call," Momo replied politely.
"Look," said Momo, "we'll never get anywhere if you go on repeating yourself like this."
"Before long, Momo was overcome by a sensation so entirely new to her that she took quite a while to recognize it as plain boredom."
"I wouldn't know," Momo mumbled, feeling rather embarrassed.
"All the same," said the man in gray with a thin-lipped smile, "you don't seem too pleased."
"Momo suddenly felt as if happiness had fled the world forever."
"Isn't there anyone who loves you?" she whispered.
"Human beings have no conception of the value of their time, but we do. We suck them dry."
"You modern children are never satisfied, honestly!"
"I don't think anyone could love it — her, I mean."
"It wasn't a game," Momo said in a muffled voice.
"What if we can't find them?" Momo asked. "They may go and hide."
"Everyone will go wild with excitement," Guido continued. "Thousands and thousands of people will come flocking in."
"What's the matter?" he grumbled. "Momo? Why, what's happened to her?"
"Despite their leisurely progress, or because of it, the streets and buildings seemed to flash past in a white blur."
"The close-packed buildings on either side were a mass of little turrets, gables and balconies. They resembled dainty glass palaces which, after lying on the sea bed since time out of mind, had suddenly risen to the surface."
"The narrow street ended in a house detached from all the others and standing at right angles to them. Its big bronze front door was richly decorated with ornamental figures."
"The past consists of moments gone by and the future of moments to come, so neither of them could exist without the present."
"If people knew the nature of death, they'd cease to be afraid of it."
"This latest scheme of yours doesn’t appeal to us. Be a good boy and drop it, will you?"
"You used to be Prince Girolamo disguised as a nobody called Guido. And what are you now? Just a nobody called Guido disguised as Prince Girolamo."
"You aren’t qualified to tell the truth, so forget it."
"Don't worry your poor little scatterbrained head about that. You can't help her anymore, least of all by telling stories about us."
"Look at it from that angle and you’ll find you can carry on very nicely, as before."
"Once upon a time his imagination had soared along and he had blithely followed its lead, but now he was telling lies."
"Better that than being held prisoner by the men in gray — if she’s still alive, of course."
"Who does she live with, then? 'She lives by herself,' Beppo replied."
"You can have the girl back, but only on condition that you never utter another word about us or our activities."
"All he could tell at first was that the shadowy figure was smoking a cigar or cigarette — the tip glowed red in the gloom."
"Children," declared still others, "are the raw material of the future."
"Far from preparing our children for tomorrow’s world, we still allow too many of them to squander years of their precious time on childish tomfoolery."
"I’ve nothing left to dream about, and not even you could teach me to dream again."
"There’s nothing more dangerous in life than dreams that come true."
"And now, for pity’s sake, leave us in peace for five minutes."
"If you go on wandering around on your own like this."
"The long and the short of it is, they’re taken care of."
"In the old days, yes, but everything’s different now. We aren’t allowed to fritter our time away."
"Couldn’t you take me in with you? I’m so lonely these days."
"Pointless," he said with a thin-lipped smile. "Don’t even try it."
"Because we have other plans for you," said the man in gray.
"Save it," said the man in gray with a bleak, mirthless laugh.
"Stop!" she shouted, but her feeble voice was drowned by the clatter.
"Never fear, though, little Momo," the voice went on, "that naturally won’t apply to you and your friends."
"She knows what time is," whispered another voice.
"The way’s inside me," was Cassiopeia’s response.
"A fatal illness, though you scarcely notice it at first."
"Time will come to an end some day, but not until people don’t need it any longer."
"One day, you don’t feel like doing anything. Nothing interests you, everything bores you."
"Many things will prove easier than you think."
"What kind of illness is it?" she asked in a low voice.
"If you do, you’ll be running an incalculable risk."
"Goodbye, Momo," he said, "and thank you for listening so carefully."