Narrator Quotes

At the time, my life just seemed too complete, and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.

You know how they say you only hurt the ones you love? Well, it works both ways.

The things you used to own, now they own you.

If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

If you could be either God’s worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?

“From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting.”

“Only a man of Colonel Sartoris’ generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it.”

“Now, we must have badly painted the character of our adventure seeker, or our readers must have already perceived that D’Artagnan was not an ordinary man; therefore, while repeating to himself that his death was inevitable, he did not make up his mind to die quietly, as one less courageous and less restrained might have done in his place.”

“Great criminals bear about them a kind of predestination which makes them surmount all obstacles, which makes them escape all dangers, till the moment which a wearied Providence has marked as the rock for their impious fortunes.”

“Bravery is always respected, even in an enemy.”

“Goodnight room Goodnight moon”

“A picture of- the cow jumping over the moon And there were three little bears sitting on chairs”

“Goodnight stars Goodnight air Goodnight noises everywhere”

“In the great green room There was a telephone And a red balloon”

“And goodnight to the old lady whispering ‘hush’”

“During this act of friendship, the two young men exchanged looks of intelligence, which caused Duncan to forget the character and condition of his wild associate.”

“It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts could meet.”

“Not so, however, with the besieged. Animated by the words, and stimulated by the examples of their leaders, they had found their courage, and maintained their ancient reputation, with a zeal that did justice to the stern character of their commander.”

“The manner of the scout was seriously impressive, though no longer distinguished by any signs of unmanly apprehension. It was evident that his momentary weakness had vanished with the explanation of a mystery which his own experience had not served to fathom...”

“For as long as she’s been alive, the family has never spoken of it, and even if they had, it would have changed nothing.”

“After a few stuttering replies, the spotlight would swivel back to Lydia, and Nath would retreat to his room and his aeronautics magazines.”

“Coming to her made him feel perfectly welcomed, perfectly at home, as he had never in his life felt before.”

“This little man, five-foot-nine at most and not even American, was going to teach them about cowboys?”

″ Lydia’s quietness, her lack of friends. Her recent sinking grades. And, in truth, the strangeness of her family. A family with no friends, a family of misfits.”

″ The confident young man in his imagination dwindled to a nervous little boy. ”

“When Nath had been born, then Lydia, Marilyn had not informed her mother, had not even sent a photograph. What was there to say? She and James had never discussed what her mother had said about their marriage that last day: it’s not right. She had not ever wanted to think of it again. So when James came home that night, she said simply, “My mother died.” Then she turned back to the stove and added, “And the lawn needs mowing,” and he understood: they would not talk about it.”

“He spoke to the dog ... but in his voice was a strange note of fear that frightened the animal. ”

“Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum.”

“A certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him. ”

“He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances. ”

“It experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man’s heels. ”

“The Witch was so stunned that she nearly lost her grip on the branch. The last thing she ever cared for was gossip. Yet she had been out of touch for so long that she was astonished at the vigorous opinions of these random nobodies.”

“She sat down, wary, tired, astonished at the wealth of her own feeling for. She was full of need. But, she reminded herself, you’re a grown woman.”

“But surely the curse was on the land of Oz, not on her.”

“She found herself looking at Lane as if he were a stranger, or a poster advertising a brand of linoleum, across the aisle of a subway car. Again she felt the trickle of disloyalty and guilt, which seemed to be the order of the day, and reacted to it by reaching over to cover Lane’s hand with her own. She withdrew her hand almost immediately and used it to pick her cigarette out of the ashtray. ”

″ Franny literally jumped ... ‘What book?’ she said. ‘This, you mean?’

“He tried to empty his face of all expression that might quite simply, perhaps even beautifully, reveal how he felt about the arriving person.”

“The lottery was conducted – as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program – by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.”

“Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand.‘”

“Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the answer perfectly well, it was the business of the official of the lottery to ask such questions formally.”

″ So much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded. ”

“Someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.”

“Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hurry up.‘”

“No one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. ”

“The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around.”

″ If dying was required, he intended to die as Roland ... crawling toward the Tower. ”

″ But he kept this knowledge of his fear thrust firmly down in him; his courage to live depended upon how successfully his fear was hidden from his consciousness. ”

“He stood with her body in his arms in the silent room and cold facts battered him like waves sweeping in from the sea: she was dead; she was white; she was a woman; he had killed her; he was black; he might be caught; he did not want to be caught; if he were they would kill him. ”

“The thing to do was to act just like others acted, live like they lived, and while they were not looking, do what you wanted. ”

“Bigger felt that he was sitting and holding his life helplessly in his hands, waiting for Max to tell him what to do with it; and it made him hate himself. An organic wish to cease to be, to stop living, seized him. Either he was too weak, or the world was too strong; he did not know which. Over and over he had tried to create a world to live in and over and over he had failed. Now once again he was waiting for someone to tell him something; once more, he was poised on the verge of action and commitment.”

“Although he could not put it into words, he knew not only had they resolved to put him to death, but they were determined to make his death mean more than a mere punishment; that they regarded him as a figment of that black world which they feared and were anxious to keep under control.”

“He felt a hollow space between himself and the person he was supposed to be. ”

“That was what Curt had given her, this gift of contentment, of ease. ”

″ He expected her to feel what she did not know how to feel. ”

“She was no longer sure what was new in Lagos and what was new in herself. ”

“She was inside this silence and she was safe. ”

“She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self-affection. He made her like herself. With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.”

“She had won, indeed, but her triumph was full of air. Her fleeting victory had left in its wake a vast, echoing space, because she had taken on, for too long, a pitch of voice and a way of being that was not hers.”

“Compromise need not mean cowardice. Indeed it is frequently the compromisers and conciliators who are faced with the severest tests of political courage as they oppose the extremist views of their constituents.”

“Courage, the universal virtue, is comprehended by us all—but these portraits of courage do not dispel the mysteries of politics.”

“This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues—courage.”

“Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn’t always so lucky. Less than a century ago men and women did not have easy access to the puzzle boxes within them. They could not name even one of the fifty-three portals to the soul.”

“To the young American, here or elsewhere, the paths to fortune are innumerable and all open; There is invitation in the air and success in all his wide horizon.”

“But still, here are the words Despereaux Tilling spoke to his father. He said, ‘I forgive you, Pa.‘”

“Now he wasn’t hungry any more- and he wasn’t a little caterpillar any more. ”

“In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf. ”

″ One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and -pop!- out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar. ”

“On Monday he at through one apple.”

“But he was still hungry.”

″ On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry.”

“On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry.”

“Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a scare–crow to frighten the blackbirds.”

″ That night he had a stomachache!”

“The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better.”

“Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears.”

“But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!”

“Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright.”

″...he was a beautiful butterfly!”

“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.”

“He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes.”

“Say it, reader. Say the word ‘quest’ out loud. It is an extraordinary word, isn’t it? So small and yet so full of wonder, so full of hope.”

“Love, as we have already discussed, is a powerful, wonderful, ridiculous thing, capable of moving mountains.”

“But, reader, there is no comfort in the word “farewell,” even if you say it in French. “Farewell” is a word that, in any language, is full of sorrow. It is a word that promises absolutely nothing.”

“But, reader, there is no comfort in the word “farewell,” even if you say it in French. “Farewell” is a word that, in any language, is full of sorrow. It is a word that promises absolutely nothing.”

“He did not know what his mother looked like. He went right by her. He did not see her.”

“Then indeed the little train was very, very sad, and the dolls and toys were ready to cry.”

“Up, up, up. Faster and faster and faster and faster the little engine climbed until at last they reached the top of the mountain.”

“At last, Peter Rabbit made his way back to the cozy burrow where he lived with his family. He was a very tired rabbit indeed!”

“Did he have a mother?”

“The Snort put that baby bird right back in the tree. The baby bird was home!”

“The little train was carrying all these wonderful things to the good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. She puffed along merrily.”

“She tugged and pulled and pulled and tugged and slowly, slowly, slowly, they started off.”

“Then all of a sudden she stopped with a jerk. She simply could not go another inch. She tried and she tried, but her wheels would not turn.”

“The slave girl didn’t have a name; she didn’t know how old she was. She had lived at Huangling Palace since her parents had sold her to Lan when she was a small child.”

“Remembering home he suddenly became inward and didn’t want to say any more about all that. He dabbed flakes of croissant on to a finger-end and licked them away.”

“I PUT THE MAGIC FINGER ON THEM ALL!”

“Now the one thing that Mr. Gregg and his two boys loved to do more than anything else was to go hunting. Every Saturday morning they would take their guns and go off into the woods to look for animals and birds to shoot. Even Philip, who was only eight years old, had a gun of his own.”

“The Magic Finger is something I have been able to do all my life. I can’t tell you just how I do it, because I don’t even know myself. But it always happens when I get cross, when I see red…”

″ In fact, the narrator hopes to spend as few hours awake as possible, lulling herself with pills and middlebrow movies she plays on repeat on her VCR, until the aging machine breaks down.”