Caroline Billafuerte > Caroline's Quotes

“Aspasia had herself fallen into very good fortune. So good that at the age of twenty years, she’d probably used up the whole life’s portion of good luck that Tyche had allotted her. To make good fortune last—for herself and the child in her womb—would be up to her.”
― Yvonne Korshak, Pericles and Aspasia: A Story of Ancient Greece

“Ngo Diem was heard to say, “I want a repressive machine controlling the whole of the country of South Vietnam from Saigon to the remotest villages. You shall apply massacres, torture, deportations, and mass imprisonment while conducting constant raids. You shall make the population so fearful of this government that no-one shall ever dare to become a revolutionary or any other kind of outlaw!”

(A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two)”
― Michael G. Kramer

“  Mary fought a savage impulse to slam the door on the couple. But they were too interesting to ignore in the circumstances of the murder. She caught sight of Richard spitting out a mouthful of hair.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“Trust is a strange bedfellow.”
― March Lions, The Last Sunset

“Black considered shooting him here. That idea lasted about a second. Thought about pushing the barrel through the man’s skull. That lasted a couple more.”
― William Kely McClung, Black Fire

“There is no harm in deceiving society as long as she does not find you out, because it is only when she finds you out that you have harmed her; she is not like a friend or God, who are injured by the mere existence of unfaithfulness.”
― E.M. Forster, A Passage to India

“Don’t you want to know what happened?” Carol turned to look at her and put her hands on her hips. She said, “No, I don’t, because I don’t want you making a story out of it, because as soon as you make a story out of it, then it keeps happening every time you tell it, and if you make a good story out of it, then you’re gonna want to tell it, so don’t bother.”
― Jane Smiley, Moo

“Ezek nem köllenek. Csupa sár, semmi szín. Vagyis hát nem ilyen színekhez vagyok én szokva. Mert vegyük bár akármelyik amerikai várost, ősszel vagy télen, nézzük meg egy távoli dombtetőről, vagy csónakról az öbölből vagy a folyóról: bizony hogy bármelyik részletük sokkal, de sokkal szebb festmény, mint ez a lencsefőzelék itten, amit maguk, többiek is csak úgy tudnak szeretni, hogy mindenféle pedigrét aggatnak rá. Tolvaj vagyok, meglehet, de színben tudom, mi a szép, akár a mennyek tündöklésében, akár a Sátán mesterkedésében mutatkozik meg – és tudom azt is, mi a sár és szemét, és nem tévesztem össze. Mr. Knoedler, tőlem már nem kell féltenie a festményeit. Én ugyan el nem lopom őket. Rondák.

Kiváló tisztelettel
P. Soames”
― Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

“To live in the midst of danger is to know how good life is," his father replied.
"But if we are lost in the danger?" Kino asked anxiously.
"To live in the presence of death makes us brave and strong," Kino's father replied. "That is why our people never fear death. We see it too often and we do not fear it. To die a little later or a little sooner does not matter. But to live bravely, to lobe life, to see how beautiful the trees are and the mountains, yes, even the sea, to enjoy work because it produces food for life - in these things we Japanese are a fortunate people. We love life because we live in danger. We do not fear death because we understand that life and death are necessary to each other."
"What is death?" Kino asked.
"Death is the great gateway," Kino's father said.”
― Pearl S. Buck, The Big Wave

“Il bel far niente. ”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America