Olin Gildea > Olin's Quotes

“If there was one thing a former sniper could do well, it was wait. Patiently. Quietly. Without a sound. Barely a movement. Just him, a quiet mind and his breath.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“You arrogant, insufferable asshole; you scared me to death. If I hadn’t been so afraid that you were already dead, I’d have killed you myself.”
― Lotchie Burton, Gabriel's Fire

“Meantime, a midsize Labrador mutt cut me off at the cul-de-sac. He was in desperate need of a rubdown. I gave it a thought but feared his bark and constant gruff. I locked eyes then noticed his black and white patches rotated with agitations. He yapped and yapped and bluffed mightily, but he cautiously stayed a safe distance away. Eventually, he lost all courage and quietly ran for shelter. As for me, I never stopped advancing toward my brother’s place. It took some effort but

I serpentine and zigzagged my way through dandelions and fast-food wrappings lying in the
yard.
 
The closer I got, the more definite the sounds of dishes breaking, kids playing, infants testing

their lungs, and TVs watching themselves became. Jerry and his wife had separated some time ago. Regardless, he was left with four adult daughters still in the nest. Obviously, the girls brought kids of their own to the mix. But everything unfolding before me appeared chaotic on the other side of that threshold. That entire scene grew larger andmore intimidating with every timid step I took.”
― Harold Phifer, My Bully, My Aunt, & Her Final Gift

“The summer sun bowing out threw slashes of colour between the buildings. London looked big, empty, and lonely. She stood in the doorway, like a cat trying to make up its mind.”
― Sara Pascoe, Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For

“Teacher,” I said. “Can you feel love?”
― Steven Decker, Child of Another Kind

“Cindy Divine rushed out of her first-period classroom at Calloway County Middle School. Betty Sue Bowling, her English teacher, rushed to the doorway and ordered her back to the classroom. Cindy ignored her as she ran to the nearest fire alarm and pulled the handle. A screeching blare flooded the classrooms and hallways.”
― Shafter Bailey, Cindy Divine: The Little Girl Who Frightened Kings

“Make no mistake: You will be challenged at some point in time. We all are. That’s just life.”
― Vernon Davis, Playing Ball: Life Lessons from My Journey to the Super Bowl and Beyond

“The artillery fire which helped in holding off the enemy advance against the Australian positions appeared to be getting always closer. A radio operator called Vic Grice somehow replaced the antenna on Buick’s radio. That had been shot off, thus rendering the radio in-operational.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“Next morning, while her children were still asleep in their tent, Evie got up early. The acorn she had planted the day before had sprung to life and was nearly ten feet high. Sitting on the fallen log where the forest boy had sat thirty years earlier, she listened. There was no dancing partner. Maybe she was now too old, but the oak trees did sing for her.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress:

“Kindness. The only possible method when dealing with a living creature. You'll get nowhere with an animal if you use terror, no matter what its level of development may be. That I have maintained, do maintain and always will maintain. People who think you can use terror are quite wrong. No, no, terror is useless, whatever its colour – white, red or even brown! Terror completely paralyses the nervous system.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog

“There is enormous pressure on you to take a place in the story your culture is enacting in the world— any place at all.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”
― Dr. Seuss

“I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me survival is a talent.”
― Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

“Sedan visste de på en stund inget mer att säja, stod där bara tysta men mycket nöjda med att vara tillsammans.

Then for a moment they knew nothing more to say, just stood there in silence but very happy to be together.”
― Astrid Lindgren, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter