unnoticed Quotes

“The great victory, which appears so simple today, was the result of a series of small victories that went unnoticed.”

“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.”

“The box ended up at the back of a closet, shoved behind some old bags and bundles. There it sat, unnoticed, year after year, until its time arrived, and the lock quietly clicked open.

“One night as I was passing a tavern I saw through a lighted window some gentlemen fighting with billiard cues, and saw one of them thrown out of the window. At other times I should have felt very much disgusted, but I was in such a mood at the time, that I actually envied the gentleman thrown out of the window – and I envied him so much that I even went into the tavern and into the billiard-room. ‘Perhaps,’ I thought, ‘I’ll have a fight, too, and they’ll throw me out of the window.’ ”

“You must learn to distract your victims with a myriad of pleasant little rituals? thoughtful gifts tailored just for them, clothes and adornments designed to please them, gestures that show the time and attention you are paying them. Mesmerized by what they see, they will not notice what you are really up to.”

“Well behaved women seldom make history.”

“She was so sure, so present, so easy, so light and gold, while I was all gray and shadow. I was not ugly or monstrous. That might have been better. Monsters always command attention, if only for their freakishness. My parents would have wrung their hands and tried to make it up to me, as parents will with a handicapped or especially ugly child. Even Call, his nose too large for his small face, had a certain satisfactory ugliness.”

“When Elmer rejoined the other elephants, they were all standing quietly. None of them noticed Elmer as he worked his way to the middle of the herd.”

“Thomas used to grumble in the shed at night. ‘I’m tired of pushing coaches. I want to see the world.’ The others didn’t take much notice, for Thomas was a little engine who talked big,”