helluo_librorum

“I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.”
― E.M. Forster, Maurice

“Houses, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left too much on their own; this house was the architectural equivalent of an old gentleman in a worn dressing-gown and torn slippers, who got up and went to bed at odd times of day, and who kept up a continual conversation with friends no one else could see.”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“In that last dance of chances

I shall partner you no more.

I shall watch another turn you

As you move across the floor.


In that last dance of chances

When I bid your life goodbye

I will hope she treats you kindly.

I will hope you learn to fly.


In that last dance of chances

When I know you'll not be mine

I will let you go with longing

And the hope that you'll be fine.


In that last dance of chances

We shall know each other's minds.

We shall part with our regrets

When the tie no longer binds.”
― Robin Hobb, Fool's Fate

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.
Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell