Frankly, just between you and me, I'm ending even
worse than I started...Yes, my beginnings weren't
so hot...I was born, I repeat, in Courbevoie, Seine
...I'm repeating it for the thousandth time...after a
great many round trips I'm ending very badly...old
age, you'll say...yes, old age, that's a fact...at sixty-
three and then some, it's hard to break in again...
to build up a new practice...no matter where ... I
forgot to tell you...I'm a doctor...A medical prac-
tice, confidentially, between you and me, isn't just
a question of knowing your job and doing it prop-
erly...what really counts...more than anything else
...is personal charm...personal charm after sixty?
...there might still be a future for you in the wax
works, or as an antique vase in a museum...a few
old fogies in search of enigmas might still take an
interest...but the ladies? Your dapper greybeard,
painted, perfumed, and lacquered? Doctor or not,
practice or no practice, the old scarecrow will
still stick in people's craw...

From Céline's
Castle to Castle
Translation Ralph Manheim