Jorge Griffon > Jorge's Quotes

“Awakened to the crow of a rooster almost old enough to retire to a cooking pot.”
― Gabriel F.W. Koch, Steel Blood

“Jack, this is Vance McGruder. I couldn’t find your cell number so I’m taking a chance on reaching you at the cottage. It’s Monday afternoon and I need you here as soon as possible. I’ve arranged for a one-way, first-class ticket on Delta Air Lines on their 3:15pm flight tomorrow afternoon to Atlanta and connecting on to LAX. I’ll have a car and driver at LAX to pick you up. Call me as soon as you get this message.”
― Behcet Kaya, Body In The Woods

“The estate was immaculate, but parts of it felt unused.
Not neglected, exactly—just sealed. Like they’d been
closed off intentionally.”
― D.L. Maddox, Secrets

“Padre Crittle: … While resting on the side of the road I saw Amah Singh, one of the oldest Sikh inhabitants of Kamaing. He was walking very slowly with the aid of a bamboo. When he saw me he stopped and begged for something to eat. “Only half a biscuit, Sahib, only half a biscuit.” I am sure that he did not believe me when I told him I hadn’t got half a biscuit in the world …”
― Elizabeth Tebby Germaine, EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORIES OF SURVIVAL IN BURMA WW2: tens of thousands fled to India from the Japanese Invasion in 1942

“Speaking to a foreigner was the dream of every student, and my opportunity came at last. When I got back from my trip down the Yangtze, I learned that my year was being sent in October to a port in the south called Zhanjiang to practice our English with foreign sailors. I was thrilled.

Zhanjiang was about 75 miles from Chengdu, a journey of two days and two nights by rail. It was the southernmost large port in China, and quite near the Vietnamese border.

It felt like a foreign country, with turn-of-the-century colonial-style buildings, pastiche Romanesque arches, rose windows, and large verandas with colorful parasols. The local people spoke Cantonese, which was almost a foreign language. The air smelled of the unfamiliar sea, exotic tropical vegetation, and an altogether bigger world.

But my excitement at being there was constantly doused by frustration. We were accompanied by a political supervisor and three lecturers, who decided that, although we were staying only a mile from the sea, we were not to be allowed anywhere near it. The harbor itself was closed to outsiders, for fear of 'sabotage' or defection. We were told that a student from Guangzhou had managed to stow away once in a cargo steamer, not realizing that the hold would be sealed for weeks, by which time he had perished. We had to restrict our movements to a clearly defined area of a few blocks around our residence.

Regulations like these were part of our daily life, but they never failed to infuriate me. One day I was seized by an absolute compulsion to get out. I faked illness and got permission to go to a hospital in the middle of the city. I wandered the streets desperately trying to spot the sea, without success. The local people were unhelpful: they did not like non-Cantonese speakers, and refused to understand me. We stayed in the port for three weeks, and only once were we allowed, as a special treat, to go to an island to see the ocean.

As the point of being there was to talk to the sailors, we were organized into small groups to take turns working in the two places they were allowed to frequent: the Friendship Store, which sold goods for hard currency, and the Sailors' Club, which had a bar, a restaurant, a billiards room, and a ping-pong room.

There were strict rules about how we could talk to the sailors. We were not allowed to speak to them alone, except for brief exchanges over the counter of the Friendship Store. If we were asked our names and addresses, under no circumstances were we to give our real ones. We all prepared a false name and a nonexistent address. After every conversation, we had to write a detailed report of what had been said which was standard practice for anyone who had contact with foreigners. We were warned over and over again about the importance of observing 'discipline in foreign contacts' (she waifi-lu). Otherwise, we were told, not only would we get into serious trouble, other students would be banned from coming.”
― Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

“Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“All history is just one man trying to take something away from another man, and usually it doesn’t really belong to either of them.”
― Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle

“Vina e un vis, mila e singura realitate.”
― Thomas Keneally, Schindler’s List

“நாம் எதிர்பார்த்திருக்கிறோமோ இல்லையோ, மாற்றம் தொடர்ந்து நிகழ்ந்து கொண்டுதான் இருக்கிறது”
― Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese? (Tamil)

“Bullshit, Ari. You have the harder rule to follow? Buffalo shit. Coyote shit. All you have to do is be loyal to the most brilliant guy you've ever met—which is like walking barefoot through the park. I, on the other hand, have to refrain from kissing the greatest guy in the universe—which is like walking barefoot on hot coals.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“The third story is told in a long and detailed letter written to a friend by Sergeant Benjamin Katz, an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps. … This letter is completely different from the other accounts, emotional, shocking, heartbreaking, funny and unforgettable.”
― Elizabeth Tebby Germaine, EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORIES OF SURVIVAL IN BURMA WW2: tens of thousands fled to India from the Japanese Invasion in 1942

“Oh,” answered the vet, “I’m Francis, or—” He rapped his knuckle against his temple. “Perhaps I should say Frances.”
“You just did,” said Shaggy, who’d already been wondering if there was something wrong with this human, he had dark lines around his eyes that looked as though they had been painted on, and his lips were a bright shade of pink.”
― Graham Pryor, Cerberus

“Something dark and unseen
breaks into awareness,
bursting like a mushroom
with the full throat of desire.
 ”
― Don Hynes, Something Will Change Me: Poems of Soul and Spirit

“My Lady, turn away; do not look into the wagon, it is too frightening for a lady to view.”
― Dorlies von Kaphengst Meissner Rasmussen, Escaping the Russian Onslaught: A Family’s Story of Fleeing the Russian Army after Hitler’s Nazi Regime

“It’s never smart to lick your chemistry experiments, but beryllium is known to have a sweet taste.”
― Sybrina Durant, Magical Elements of the Periodic Table Presented By The Actinide Knights

“My people shall have safety and security, that I swear by God the Father, his son, Jesus Christ the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit!”
― Michael G. Kramer, Full Story of the Anglo-Saxon Invasion

“Bedouins believe their Heaven to be a lush paradise of trees and running water; mine was no different, though my sprinklers were timed.”
― Gary Clemenceau, Banker's Holiday: A Novel of Fiscal Irregularity

“Maeve glanced around at the tables and watched the couples sitting close to each other laughing, holding hands, or staring into each other’s eyes. She felt that familiar ache thinking of Evan, missing him, and the emptiness it caused at times like this when she was alone.”
― A.G. Russo, Bangtails, Grifters, and a Liar's Kiss

“In those happy days before Notre Dame Cathedral burned and Paris streets became thick with electric scooters.”
― Theasa Tuohy, Mademoiselle le Sleuth

“Being magnanimous in victory usually worked, but to keep abreast of the situation he had to 
pump the girl for all she knew. Was there a pang of remorse for his actions in his mind? 
Possibly, but what choice did he have? If he wanted to survive, he had no room for weakness.”
― Max Nowaz, The Arbitrator

“The interior of the Loomis house was silent in a way
that felt deliberate, as though the sound had been swept up with yesterday’s dust. ”
― D.L. Maddox, Secrets

“Mary stared at the dreamlike happenings on the page. Human figures faced each other; the man’s head was a golden ball with rays reaching up to huge stars and out to the distant mountains; the woman’s silver head was sickle-shaped and surrounded by birds like eagles with white beaks. Some of the black letters glowed because they had tips like tiny flames.”
― Susan Rowland, The Alchemy Fire Murder

“I wish I could say I felt guilty for what I did.

I don't.”
― Veronica Roth, Divergent

“If a man’s from Texas, he’ll tell you. If not, why embarrass him by asking”
― John Gunther, Inside U.S.A

“I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent or overly practiced. I have the urge to cut the book by fifty pages or so, possessed as I am with a keener appreciation for brevity.”
― Barack Obama

“One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“The British criminals responsible for dropping bombs on women and little children would soon have to face the bar of justice.”
― Herman Wouk, The Winds of War