Darbi Bradley

“Glanced up and caught Ammu's gaze. Centuries telescoped into one evanescent moment. History was wrong-footed, caught off guard. Sloughed off like an old snakeskin. Its marks , its scars its wouns from old wars and the walking backwards days all fell away. In its abscence it left an aura, a palpable shimmering that was as plain as water in a river or the sun in the sky. As plain to feel the heat on a hot day, or the tug of a fish on a taut line. So obvious that no-one noticed.
In that brief moment, Velutha looked up and saw things that he hadn't seen before. Things that had been out of bounds so far, obscured by histor's blinkers.
...This knowing slid into him cleanly, like the sharp edge of a knife. Cold and hot at once. It only took a moment.
Ammu saw that he saw. She looked away. He did too. History's fiends returned to claim them. To rewrap them in its old scarred pelt and drag them back to where they really lived. Where the Love Laws lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

“My position was a common one; I wanted to do the right thing but could not help regretting the damnable expense.”
― Robertson Davies, Fifth Business

“If you don't hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you'll get.”
― Robertson Davies, Fifth Business

“A baby was like a revolution, Grigori thought: you could start one, but you could not control how it would turn out.”
― Ken Follett, Fall of Giants