How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
At 5:38 our conversation of yesterday will become a memory, the opulent woman whose lips brushed against my mouth will rejoin, in the past, the slim little girl of Meknes, of London. (30.1)
After kissing goodbye to his ex lover Anny, Antoine knows that he may never see the woman again. Worse yet, his memory of kissing her won't give him any comfort. The past is the past, and while it's nice to think that it can live on in memory, the truth for Antoine is that memories aren't real. Only things in the here and now are real.
Quote #8
My past is dead. The Marquis de Rollebon is dead, Anny came back only to take all hope away. (31.2)
There have been times in Nausea when Antoine Roquentin has felt like his good memories have given him a little happiness. But at the end of the novel, he realizes that there's no comfort to be had in good memories. He needs to create meaning in the here and now. The only problem is that he has no clue how to do this.
Quote #9
A year from now I'd find myself as empty as I am today, without even a memory, and a coward facing death. (33.36)
Antoine thinks for a moment about spending his entire fortune in a single year for the sake of giving himself a thrill and breaking out of his boredom. But he knows that when all is said and done, he'll wind up right back where he started. Worse yet, he won't even have good memories of this year because they'll be swallowed up by his boredom and loneliness.