Herzog Appearances Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

He remembered how much pleasure it gave Madeleine to try on clothes in shops and how much heart and pride there was in her when she looked at herself, touching, adjusting, her face glowing but severe, too, with the great blue eyes, the vivid bangs, the medallion profile. (1.134)

Herzog gets annoyed sometimes with the amount of time Madeleine spends on keeping up her appearance. But he's being a total hypocrite because her beauty is the main thing that first attracted him to her.

Quote #2

Valentine, furthermore, was exquisitely confident of his appearance. You could see it. He knew he was a terribly handsome man. He expected women—all women—to be mad about him. (1.121)

Herzog spends a lot of his time wondering about how handsome he is. His buddy Val, though, never worries at all. Even with his wooden leg, he's certain that he's God's gift to women and that all women should love him.

Quote #3

That mouth!—heavy with desire and irreconcilable anger, the straight nose sometimes grim, the dark eyes! And his figure!—the long veins winding in the arms and filling in the hanging hands, an ancient system, of greater antiquity than the Jews themselves. (1.138)

It's safe to say that Herzog reads a little too much into his physical appearance. Sure, we all worry about how we look now and then. But how many of us look at the veins in our arms and think of them as "an ancient system, of greater antiquity than the Jews"? Sheesh.