Opium Eater Quotes

“Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone and leave it alone.”
― Thomas de Quincey

“Guilt, therefore, I do not acknowledge: and, if I did, it is possible that I might still resolve on the present act of confession, in consideration of the service which I may thereby render to the whole class of opium-eaters.”
― Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater & Other Writings

“I was, indeed, greatly irritated at the bishop's having suggested any grounds of suspicion, however remotely, against a person whom he had never seen: and I thought of letting him know my mind in Greek: which, at the same time that it would furnish some presumption that I was no swindler, would also (I hoped) compel the bishop to reply in the same language; in which case, I doubted not to make it appear, that if I was not so rich as his lordship, I was a far better Grecian.”
― Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater

“His head was bent on one side and he seemed lost in an opium dream, looking lovingly upon the world – men, animals, the carts, carriages, palanquins, all - as they passed by. Or perhaps he was looking upon nothing, for his gaze did not so much as flicker when Firangia came to a stop and greeted him.”
― Mukta Singh-Zocchi, The Thugs & a Courtesan