Quotes from A Conspiracy of Paper

“I mean no disrespect to the gentlemen of the bench, but it is no secret that our system of justice, praised throughout Europe for its severity and its swiftness, is a terrible and fearful thing, and no man, guilty or innocent, wishes to stand before it.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“We are all driven by our passions, and our task is to know when to submit to them and when to resist.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“Proximity, I have learned, is often as effective as violence.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“He seemed a man whose youthful promise had yielded nothing but the feelings of failure that come with the advance of age. It is this moment in life, when the bounty of the future becomes the drudgery of the present, that all men fear, myself included, and for that reason I immediately felt a sympathy for this man.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“I fear we face a new kind of man along with this new kind of affluence. When lands meant wealth, men could perhaps have enough. Too much land was difficult to govern. But with paper money, more is simply more. In France, you know, where they suffer from their own financial mania, they have a word - the millionaire - to denote men whose wealth is measured in the millions. Millions. It is inconceivable, but there are more than a few men who hold this title.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“believe you have struck upon the problems of conspiracies. There are men who wish to keep you from uncovering the truth about this particular matter, but there are others who are only privately villainous and have their own little truths to hide. When you confront a conspiracy it becomes monstrous hard to distinguish between wretched villainy and ordinary, common lies.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“over the last decade I had little”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“- O mundo mudou, o senhor sabe. Ou mudamos com ele e prosperamos ou agitamos os punhos para o céu. Prefiro a primeira escolha. E quanto ao senhor, Weaver? O que prefere?”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“The harm is in whom this system makes powerful. If value is no longer vested in gold, but in the promise of gold, then the men who make the promises hold ultimate power. If money and gold are one and the same, then gold defines value, but if money and paper are the same, then value is based upon nothing at all.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“Good Gad, Weaver. That look upon your face is one of inspiration. I hardly know you any longer.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“To Any and All Persons Who have bought stock from, or sold stock to, Mr. Martin Rochester You are asked to attend Mr. Kent’s Coffeehouse, in Peter Street, near Bloomsbury Square this Thursday between the hours of noon and three, at which time you will receive compensation for your time”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

“Elias nodded. “You begin to understand the theory of probability,” he said. “From the general necessity of the existence of victims, you will find the particular of the villain.”
― David Liss, quote from A Conspiracy of Paper

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Popular quotes

“once there was a great king who gazed down from a tall tower upon a gardener who sang as he worked, and the king cried, ‘Ah, to have a life of no cares! If only I could be that gardener.’ And the voice of the August Personage of Jade reached out from Heaven and said, ‘It shall be so,’ and lo, the king was a gardener singing in the sun. In time the sun grew hot and the gardener stopped singing, and a fine dark cloud brought coolness and then drifted away, and it was hot again and much work remained, and the gardener cried, ‘Ah, to carry coolness wherever I go and have no cares! If only I could be that cloud.’ And the voice of the August Personage reached out from Heaven and said, ‘It shall be so,’ and lo, the gardener was a cloud drifting across the sky. And the wind blew and the sky grew cold, and the cloud would have liked to go behind the shelter of a hill, but it could only go where the wind took it, and no matter how hard it tried to go this way the wind took it that way, and above the cloud was the bright sun. ‘Ah, to fly through wind and be warm and have no cares! If only I could be the sun,’ cried the cloud, and the voice of the August Personage of Jade reached out from Heaven and said, ‘It shall be so,’ and lo, he was the sun. It was very grand to be the sun, and he delighted in the work of sending down rays to warm some things and burn others, but it was like wearing a suit made of fire and he began to bake like bread. Above him the cool stars that were gods were sparkling in safety and serenity and the sun cried, ‘Ah, to be divine and free from care! If only I could be a god.’ And the voice of the August Personage of Jade reached out from Heaven and said, ‘It shall be so,’ and lo, he was a god, and he was beginning his third century of combat with the Stone Monkey, which had just transformed itself into a monster a hundred thousand feet tall and was wielding a trident made from the triple peaks of Mount Hua, and when he wasn’t dodging blows he could see the peaceful green earth down below him, and the god cried, ‘Ah, if only I could be a man who was safe and secure and had no cares!’ And the voice of the August Personage of Jade reached out from Heaven and said, ‘It shall be so.’ And lo, he was a king who was gazing down from a tall tower upon a gardener who sang as he worked.”
― Barry Hughart, quote from The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox

“I was aesthetically impressed but failed to understand the importance of it. Unfortunately, Braxaná do not express ignorance; therefore I couldn’t ask, “What is it?” as directly as I would have liked. After a moment I looked up at him, the elevation of one eyebrow indicating that I was intrigued enough to hear what he had come to say.”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from In Conquest Born

“Говорихме си за специалните, макар и лишени от събития моменти, когато внезапно несъзнателно и непреднамерено движение, светлината, падаща върху него, и сянката, която то очертава за миг, се обединяват по загадъчен начин с погледа ти, като че движението произлиза от очите, които го следят.”
― Jens Christian Grøndahl, quote from Silence in October

“in this room
the hours of love
still make shadows.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Pleasures of the Damned

“Again with the us. My heart beat a little faster. How many times had I dreamed of being one of the chosen few? To be truly accepted by the in crowd instead of sitting on the sidelines of my own life?”
― Kay Cassidy, quote from The Cinderella Society

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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