Quotes from All Things Cease to Appear

Elizabeth Brundage ·  400 pages

Rating: (6.6K votes)


“Her mother had told her that when she was a girl. Whenever you’re in trouble, just remember you’re your own best friend.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“There was no disguise for real love, she thought, and suddenly understood all that she did not have.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“It’s hard to see what’s good, what’s right, when you’re in the middle of it.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“Inness painted from memory, which is to say that he didn't paint what he saw, but what he remembered. There's a difference. He believed memory was a lens to the soul. It's not the details that matter - the veins on a leaf, say- so much as the implied detail, such as the changing light, the wind, the lone peasant in the distance the sense that something else is going on, some deeper possibilitly ....”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“Beauty depends on the unseen, George quoted the artist, the visible upon the invisible.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear



“Questa è la fattoria Hale.
Ecco la vecchia stalla per la mungitura, l’entrata buia che dice Vieni a cercarmi.
Ecco la banderuola, la catasta di legna.
Ecco la casa, echeggiante di storie.
È presto. Il falco vola lento nel cielo sgombro. Una sottile piuma blu volteggia nel vuoto. L’aria è fredda, limpida. La casa è silenziosa, come la cucina, il divano di velluto blu, la piccola tazza da tè bianca.
Da sempre la fattoria canta per noi, le sue famiglie perdute, i suoi soldati e le mogli. Durante la guerra, quando arrivarono con le baionette, entrando con la forza, gli stivali infangati sulle scale. Patrioti. Banditi. Mariti. Padri. Dormivano nei letti freddi. Razziavano la cantina in cerca di barattoli di pesche sciroppate e barbabietole da zucchero. Accendevano grandi fuochi nel campo, e le fiamme si contorcevano, schioccando alte verso il cielo. Fuochi che ridevano. Le facce calde brillavano e le mani erano in tasca, al riparo. Arrostivano un maiale e strappavano la carne dolce e rosea dall’osso. Dopo, si succhiavano via il grasso dalle dita, un sapore familiare, strano.
Ce ne sono stati altri – molti – che hanno rubato, smantellato e saccheggiato. Perfino i tubi di rame, perfino le mattonelle di ceramica. Quello che potevano prendere, prendevano. Hanno lasciato solo i muri, i pavimenti spogli. Il cuore pulsante in cantina.
Noi aspettiamo. Siamo pazienti. Aspettiamo notizie. Aspettiamo che ci venga detto qualcosa. Il vento sta provando a farlo. Gli alberi ondeggiano. È la fine di qualcosa; lo sentiamo. Presto sapremo.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“It’s hard to see what’s good, what’s right, when you’re in the middle of it”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“Something kept them together, frustration possibly. Like they were two parts of a troubling equation that neither could find the answer to. It was out there somewhere, in infinity, she often thought. Maybe they’d never find it.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


“She said most people were good on the inside, where it mattered. You have to give them a chance to show their goodness, she used to say. Some people need more time, that’s all.”
― Elizabeth Brundage, quote from All Things Cease to Appear


About the author

Elizabeth Brundage
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“Before I ran away, my closest friend was a tiger."
Aladdin laughed softly. "Before I met you, my closest friend was a monkey." He kissed her on the forehead. "We're quite a pair.”
― Liz Braswell, quote from A Whole New World


“Then we’re kissing right there in front of everyone. And nothing else seems to matter. Certainly not etiquette, or what anyone else thinks. It’s only his lips on mine, the pressure gentle. It’s only us. And I can’t stop—

Which is when Derrick arrives out of thin air and careens into my shoulder in a mess of wings and limbs. “Hellooooo! Don’t mind me, I’m just interrupting your brazen cuddle to steal the lady for a few minutes.”

Oh, damnation, not now. I’m really regretting not giving Derrick that extra five minutes. “Derrick,” I say through clenched teeth. I step back from Kiaran and try to control the pixie’s wriggling body in my hair. “Not—”

“My god.” Derrick collapses on my shoulder. “I am full of pie. I can barely even move my wings. I—” He squints over at Kiaran and smiles in delight. “Oh, hulloooooo, villainous wastrel!”

Kiaran is clearly not impressed. “You’ve a bit of pastry on your jacket.”

Derrick swipes at the morsel, snatches it, and eats it. “Was just saving a wee snack for later.” He giggles.

For god’s sake.

I look pleadingly at Kiaran. “Just . . . save that thought. Don’t go anywhere.” I’d like to resume the kissing. “I’ll be right back—”

“Kiaraaaaaaaaaan.” Derrick giggles. “Or would you prefer I keep villainous wastrel? I never asked.”

Kiaran arches an eyebrow. “I suppose that depends. Would you prefer pain in my arse?”

Derrick bursts into laughter. “Arse! Aileana. He said arse.”

“Hell,” I mutter. “Will you excuse me for a moment?”

I don’t wait for Kiaran’s response. I take Derrick with me to the lift and don’t say anything until I reach the fourth floor. “Let me just say, if someone gave you honey, I’ll—”

“No, no, no,” Derrick says, gliding off my shoulder. He now looks suspiciously lucid. “You said to save you after twenty-five minutes. So I did.”

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“Firstly, I was the one in distress watching you kiss Kiaran because ughhhh.” Derrick wags a finger at me. “And secondly, you never said anything about distress, you said—”

“Forget what I said.” I narrow my eyes. “Are you telling me that down there was all an act?”

He grins. “I would have been perfect in the theater, wouldn’t you say?”

“Good heavens,” I murmur. At least I don’t have to deal with a drunk pixie. “Let’s just check the wards, all right”
― Elizabeth May, quote from The Vanishing Throne


“Maybe I should be a lawyer instead of a magical baker, Rose thought. Lawyers' mistakes rarely result in old men climbing on top of towers and taking off their pants.
~Bliss”
― quote from Bliss


“Along The Sun-Drenched Roadside


Along the sun-drenched roadside, from the great
hollow half-treetrunk, which for generations
has been a trough, renewing in itself
an inch or two of rain, I satisfy
my thirst: taking the water's pristine coolness
into my whole body through my wrists.
Drinking would be too powerful, too clear;
but this unhurried gesture of restraint
fills my whole consciousness with shining water.

Thus, if you came, I could be satisfied
to let my hand rest lightly, for a moment,
lightly, upon your shoulder or your breast.


Translated by Stephen Mitchell”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, quote from The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke


“Yeah, there's some unlikely beasts in the world, and it's best to stay near the ones that you've bought drinks for.”
― Tim Powers, quote from On Stranger Tides


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