Wesley Bratt > Wesley's Quotes

“At the edge of the field Silva and Stefan witnessed heartrending images in greyscale as thousands of desperate refugees streamed down the road in leaden shades of melancholy.  This somber line of tired and dirty humans moved so close together that they jostled each other with each step; their random movements reminded Silva of corks bobbing in a slow moving stream.  They watched them pass from the side of the road, but eventually fell-in, trudging along with the suffering others, feeling safer in numbers, hoping for a destination worth finding.”
― John Payton Foden, Magenta

“attempting to write yourself as a protagonist in the life of someone else is psychotically narcissistic.”
― Malcolm Collins, The Pragmatist’s Guide to Life: A Guide to Creating Your Own Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions

“Of course, Emily, of course. I know. But here in Holland, we live first, work second. We truly appreciate life and make it our highest priority to enjoy it.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“Yamamoto was considered, both in Japan and the United States, as intelligent, capable, aggressive, and dangerous. Motivated by his skill as a poker player and casino gambler, he was continually calculating odds on an endless variety of options. He played bridge and chess better than most good players. Like most powerful leaders he was articulate and persuasive, and once in a position of power he pushed his agenda relentlessly. Whether he would push his odds successfully in the Pacific remained to be seen.”
― Dale A. Jenkins, Diplomats & Admirals: From Failed Negotiations and Tragic Misjudgments to Powerful Leaders and Heroic Deeds, the Untold Story of the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway

“The man had arrived at that stage of drunkenness where affection is felt for the universe.”
― Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

“People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is quite another thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy.”
― Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

“L'olezzo di una carneficina, credono alcuni, può aleggiare su un luogo per anni. Dicono che s'infiltri nel suolo e venga lentamente assorbito dall'intrico delle radici finché, col passare del tempo, tutto ciò che vi cresce, dal più piccolo lichene all'albero più alto, ne viene impregnato.”
― Nicholas Evans, The Loop

“A kiss from the Captain would probably melt my central processor.”
Thorne winked at her. “Oh trust me. It would.”
― Marissa Meyer, Winter

“vicissitudes”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

“Its a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten track. Many are called, few are chosen.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge

“Surrender to love; it is the only option when the heart flutters, for the heart ultimately wins.”
― Raz Mihal, Just Love Her

“So how did he imagine we would have known anything about them?’ Her husband asked.
Gloria smiled awkwardly. ‘They woke up this morning and have been chanting you name ever since.”
― A.R. Merrydew, The Girl with the Porcelain Lips

“I understand more that pain is evidence to our awakening to truth and also a measure of closeness to truth.”
― Adam Scott Huerta, Motive Black

“   In 1658, Francis Andrew Ransome stole the Alchemy Scroll from St. Julian’s college, my present employer. Ransome was a member of a transatlantic group called The Invisible College. They were alchemists, meaning they worked with matter and spirit together.”
― Susan Rowland, The Alchemy Fire Murder

“Mead.
O sweet elixir,
Ye bless the lips and steal the wits.
 ”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“I chase the wind and get lost in the clouds. I'm sweep into darkness in my search for the light.”
― Sherman Kennon, Chase The Wind: A Book Of Poetry

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, hugging him closely. She knew better than to ask for details. He almost never talked about the difficult parts of his police work. He said that he didn’t want to bring that home with him. ”
― Mike Martin, Too Close For Comfort

“A Frenchman's self-assurance stems from his belief that he is mentally and physically irresistibly fascinating to both men and women. An Englishman's self-assurance is founded on his being a citizen of the best organized state in the world and on the fact that, as an Englishman, he always knows what to do, and that whatever he does as an Englishman is unquestionably correct. An Italian is self-assured because he is excitable and easily forgets. A Russian is self-assured simply because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe in the possibility of knowing anything fully.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators... The land is one organism.”
― Aldo Leopold

“They knew what forgiveness was; they were willing to take him for better or worse; they loved him.”
― Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

“Winnie woke early next morning. The sun was only just opening its own eye on the eastern horizon and the cottage was full of silence. But she realized that sometime during the night she had made up her mind: she would not run away today. “Where would I go, anyway?” she asked herself. “There’s nowhere else I really want to be.” But in another part of her head, the dark part where her oldest fears were housed, she knew there was another sort of reason for staying at home: she was afraid to go away alone.
It was one thing to talk about being by yourself, doing important things, but quite another when the opportunity arose. The characters in the stories she read always seemed to go off without a thought or care, but in real life--well, the world was a dangerous place. People were always telling her so. And she would not be able to manage without protection. They were always telling her that, too. No one ever said precisely what it was that she would not be able to manage. But she did not need to ask. Her own imagination supplied the horrors.
Still, it was galling, this having to admit she was afraid. And when she remembered the toad, she felt even more disheartened. What if the toad should be out by the fence again today? What if he should laugh at her secretly and think she was a coward?
Well, anyway, she could at least slip out, right now, she decided, and go into the wood. To see if she could discover what had really made the music the night before. That would be something, anyway. She did not allow herself to consider the idea that making a difference in the world might require a bolder venture. She merely told herself consolingly, “Of course, while I’m in the wood, if I decide never to come back, well then, that will be that.” She was able to believe in this because she needed to; and, believing, was her own true, promising friend once more.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

“The issue before the British government was not the survival of the people they had conquered but the survival of the aristocracy they had planted on our soil.”
― Leon Uris, Trinity