Towns Quotes - Page 13

• What connexion can there be, between the place in Lincolnshire, the house in town, the Mercury in powder, and the whereabout of Jo the outlaw with the broom, who had that distant ray of light upon him when he swept the churchyard-step? What connexion can there have been between many people in the innumerable histories of this world, who, from opposite sides of great gulfs, have, nevertheless, been very curiously brought together!

  Charles Dickens

  Light, Opposites, People

  Charles Dickens (1853). “Bleak House”, p.156

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• And I wanted to tell her that the pleasure for me wasn't planning or doing or leaving; the pleasure was in seeing our strings cross and separate and then come back together.

  John Green

  Leaving, Together, Paper

  John Green (2013). “The John Green Collection”, p.479, Penguin

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• I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face, But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house, but at what's happened in that house before you were born.

  Gary D. Schmidt

  House, Wake Up, Way

  Gary D. Schmidt (2007). “The Wednesday Wars”, p.223, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.

  Carson McCullers

  Country, Home, Simple

  Carson McCullers (1975). “The mortgaged heart”, Penguin Books Ltd

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• Now, this is where I draw the line! It's bad enough everybody in town's going to be thinkin' I'm sleeping with a depressed, lice-ridden, hemorrhoidal foreigner who likes to be tied up and might be pregnant, although-since she's just about cornered the market on condoms-I don't know how that could have happened. But I will not-you listen to me, Emma!-I absolutely will not have anybody thinkin' a woman of mine needs a vaginal moisturizer, do you hear me?

  Susan Elizabeth Phillips

  Sleep, Needs, Lice

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• And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it.

  George W. Bush

  Sorry, Hard Work, Trying

  "NPR Interview with President Bush". Interview wtih Juan Williams, www.npr.org. January 29, 2007.

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• In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women. If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his hip, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad. In short, whatever does become of the gentlemen, they are not at Cranford.

  Elizabeth Gaskell

  Couple, Party, Men

  Elizabeth Gaskell (2009). “Cranford”, p.4, The Floating Press

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• The day after his father left, Franz and his mother went into town together, and as they left home Franz noticed that her shoes did not match. He was in a quandary: he wanted to point out the mistake, but was afraid he would hurt her. So, during the two hours they spent walking through the city together he kept his eyes focused on her feet. It was then he had his first inkling of what it means to suffer.

  Milan Kundera

  Mother, Hurt, Father

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• Philadelphia, wonderful town, spent a week there one night

  W. C. Fields

  Night, Philadelphia, Wonderful

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• What is your name?" asked Lear. Caius," said Kent. And whence do you hail?" From Bonking, sire." Well, yes, lad, as do we all," said Lear, "but from what town?

  Christopher Moore

  Names, Hail, Said

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• Eighteen luscuios scrumpitous flavors, Chocolate,Lime and Cherry Coffee,Pumpkin, Fudge-Banana, Caramel Cream and boysenberry. Rocky Road and Toasted Almond, Butterscotch,Vanilla Dip, Butter Brinkle, Apple Ripple,Coconut,and Mocha Chip, Brandy Peach and Lemon Custard. Each scoop lovely.smooth and round. Tallest cream cone in town lying there on the ground.

  Shel Silverstein

  Lying, Coffee, Apples

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• In this whole screwed-up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me," he whispered. "I love you, Claire." She saw something that might have been just a flash of panic go across his expression, but then he steadied again. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I do. I love you.

  Rachel Caine

  Fear, Believe, Love You

  Rachel Caine (2009). “Lord of Misrule: The Morganville Vampires”, p.84, Penguin

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• Looks like it's time to liven up this dead little town!" - Saint Dane (The Reality Bug)

  D. J. MacHale

  Reality, Saint, Looks

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• There are ten thousand people in the United States in a persistent vegetative state. Just enough to start a small town. Think of them as veggie-burghers.

  George Carlin

  Thinking, People, United States

  George Carlin (1998). “Brain Droppings”, Hyperion

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• Clap! Snap! the black crack! Grip, grab! Pinch, nab! And down down to Goblin-town You go, my lad! Clash, crash! Crush, smash! Hammer and tongs! Knocker and gongs! Pound, pound, far underground! Ho, ho! my lad! Swish, smack! Whip crack! Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat! Work, work! Nor dare to shirk, While Goblins quaff, and Goblins laugh, Round and round far underground Below, my lad!

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Crush, Laughing, Black

  J.R.R. Tolkien (2012). “The Hobbit”, p.39, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Time, Kings, Flower

  J.R.R. Tolkien (2012). “The Hobbit: 75th Anniversary Edition”, p.107, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Beyond the town, darker than dark, King Haggard's castle teetered like a lunatic on stilts.

  Peter S. Beagle

  Kings, Dark, Castles

  Peter S. Beagle (1968). “The Last Unicorn”, Roc

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• So, what do you do when you know you have two days to live? Eat an entire Bitter Chocolate Death cake all by myself. Reread my favorite novel. Buy eight dozen roses from the best florist in town--the super expensive ones, the ones that smell like roses rather than merely looking like them--and put them all over my apartment. Take a good long look at everyone I love.

  Robin McKinley

  Eight, Cake, Two

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• Where would David Copperfield be if Dickens had gone to writing classes? Probably about seventy minor characters short, is where. (Did you know that Dickens is estimated to have invented thirteen thousand characters? Thirteen thousand! The population of a small town!)

  Nick Hornby

  Writing, Character, Class

  Nick Hornby (2004). “The Polysyllabic Spree”, McSweeneys Books

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• I've become one of those people who prowl around at night in their cars. God, I am the town's Boo Radley, just like in To Kill A Mockingbird.

  Kathryn Stockett

  Night, Car, People

  Kathryn Stockett (2009). “The Help”, p.369, Penguin

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• Around the outskirts of the city, cut off from town by the black oval of the river, everything was in darkness. Everyone ugly was in bed by now.

  Scott Westerfeld

  Cutting, Cities, Rivers

  Margaret Peterson Haddix, Obert Skye, Alan Snow, Anne Ursu, Jane Johnson (2006). “Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure”, p.297, Simon and Schuster

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• Is it...dead?" asked Tom, his voice all quivery with fright. "A town just ran over him," said Hester. "I shouldn't think he's very well.

  Philip Reeve

  Thinking, Voice, Said

  Philip Reeve (2012). “Predator Cities #1: Mortal Engines”, p.101, Scholastic Inc.

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• Neighborhood is a word that has come to sound like a Valentine. As a sentimental concept, 'neighborhood' is harmful to city planning. It leads to attempts at warping city life into imitations of town or suburban life. Sentimentality plays with sweet intentions in place of good sense.

  Jane Jacobs

  Sweet, Valentine, Play

  Jane Jacobs (2016). “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, p.112, Vintage

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• A sombrero fell out of the sky and landed on the main street of town in front of the mayor, his cousin, and a person out of work. The day was scrubbed clean by the desert air. The sky was blue. It was the blue of human eyes, waiting for something to happen. There was no reason for a sombrero to fall out of the sky. No airplane or helicopter was passing overhead and it was not a religious holiday.

  Richard Brautigan

  Religious, Cousin, Fall

  Richard Brautigan (1976). “Sombrero Fallout”, Simon & Schuster

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• They say that in the hour before an earthquake the clouds hang leaden in the sky, the winds slows to a hot breath, and the birds fall quiet in the trees of the town square. Yes but these are the same portents that precede lunchtime, frankly.

  Chris Cleave

  Fall, Clouds, Squares

  Chris Cleave (2012). “Chris Cleave Ebook Boxed Set: Little Bee, Incendiary, Gold”, p.43, Simon and Schuster

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