Quotes from Amongst Women

John McGahern ·  192 pages

Rating: (2.6K votes)


“For the girls the regular comings and goings restored their superior sense of self, a superiority they had received intact from Moran and which was little acknowledged by the wide world in which they had to work and live. That unexplained notion of superiority was often badly shaken and in need of restoration by the time they came home.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women


“As looking down from great heights brings the urge to fall and end the terror of falling, so his very watching put pressure on them to make a slip as they dried and stacked the plates and cups.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women


“To leave the everpresent tension of Great Meadow was like shedding stiff, formal clothes or kicking off pinching shoes.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women


“Той продължи да седи сам, докато цялата му тревога се разтопи в разкоша на самовглъбението.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women


“Но отдалечавайки се бавно от гробището, групичката здраво сплотени опечалени жени сякаш започна бавно да набира сила с всяка стъпка. Сякаш първата им любов и вярност бяха отдадени безкомпромисно само и единствено на тази къща и този човек и те знаеха, че той винаги е бил живецът във всички етапи от съществуването им. Не само че никога не бяха нарушили верността си към него, но сега подновяваха клетвата си към него заедно с жената, която беше дошла сред тях и се беше омъжила за него. Непрекъснатото им връщане у дома беше потвърждение на несломимото присъствие на къщата в живота им и сега, след като го оставиха под тисовото дърво, сякаш всяка от тях по собствен начин се беше превъплътила в татко.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women



“Time should have stopped with the clocks but instead it moved in a glazed dream of tiredness without their ticking insistence.”
― John McGahern, quote from Amongst Women


About the author

John McGahern
Born place: in Dublin, Ireland
Born date November 12, 1934
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Some minutes later he felt a touch upon his knee: the sloth had silently climbed down and it was standing there, its beady eyes looking up into his face, bright with expectation. More cake, more grog: growing confidence and esteem. After this, as soon as the drum had beat the retreat, the sloth would meet him, hurrying toward the door on its uneven legs: it was given its own bowl, and it would grip it with its claws, lowering its round face into it and pursing its lips to drink (its tongue was too short to lap). Sometimes it went to sleep in this position, bowed over the emptiness.

'In this bucket,' said Stephen, walking into the cabin, 'in this small half-bucket, now, I have the population of Dublin, London, and Paris combined: these animalculae-- what is the matter with the sloth?' It was curled on Jack's knee, breathing heavily: its bowl and Jack's glass stood empty on the table. Stephen picked it up, peered into its affable bleary face, shook it, and hung it upon its rope. It seized hold with one fore and one hind foot, letting the others dangle limp, and went to sleep.

Stephen looked sharply round, saw the decanter, smelt to the sloth, and cried, 'Jack, you have debauched my sloth.”
― Patrick O'Brian, quote from H.M.S. Surprise


“That's not the end of the world! This is the time to cut loose! To really learn about everything! To learn about guys, to really get to know them! Really find out what goes on in the world! You just have to let yourself fly for once, without constantly thinking about what you left behind on the ground! You're a genius. Everybody knows that. I'm being sincere, Charlotte. Totally. Now there's other things to learn, and this is the perfect time to do it. Take a chance! That's one reason people go to college! It's not the only reason, but it's a big reason.”
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“Holding his breath, swaying drunkenly beneath a bulb which illumined little more than grime and moisture, Moon stared awhile at the cement wall; it took just such a hopeless international latrine in the early hours of a morning, when a man was weak in the knees, short in the breath, numb in the forehead and rotten in the gut, to make him wonder where he was, how he got there, where he was going; he realized that he did not know and never would. He had confronted this same latrine on every continent and not once had it come up with an answer; or rather, it always came up with the same answer, a suck and gurgle of unspeakable vileness, a sort of self-satisfied low chuckling: Go to it, man, you’re pissing your life away.”
― Peter Matthiessen, quote from At Play in the Fields of the Lord


“We exist only by virtue of what we possess, we possess only what is really present to us, and many of our memories, our moods, our ideas sail away on a voyage of their own until they are lost to sight! Then we can no longer take them into account in the total which is our personality. But they know of secret paths by which to return to us.”
― Marcel Proust, quote from The Captive & The Fugitive


“Mueve la cabeza de arriba abajo y frunce el ceño. - Ese es Matt Fuller. Es un sénior y nuestro Asesor promesa. -Me mira con los ojos entrecerrados y trata de leer mi mente.
- ¿En serio? - Sonrío demasido grande, porque ahora él sabe totalmente que estaba mintiendo acerca de la parte linda.
- ¿Cuándo? Estoy muy segura de que me acordaría de él. -Miro a Phillip con curiosidad.
- No lo recuerdo exactamente, pero creo que me vio cuando llevé en mis hombros a través del campus.- Phillip niega con la cabeza hacia mí-. Realmente no sé por qué dejo que te salgas con la tuya, con las cosas que haces.
- Porque soy irresistible, Phillip. - Sonrió y me encojo de hombros-. Tú no puedes ayudarte a ti mismo. Además, no fuiste por todo el campus, soló fueron unos cincuenta metros antes de que fingieras un ataque al corazón y te apoyarás en mi peso colapsando sobre mí en la hierba.
-Oh, sí. Lo recuerdo. Creo que has ganado algo de peso. - Golpeo su hombro.
Lo ignora y continúa -Ahora que lo pienso, creo que es cuando Matt te vió.
Me da una gran sonrisa. Justo ahora lo recordaba.
-Tu probablemente no te diste cuenta, porque estabas muy ocupada rodando en el césped conmigo.
- Estoy bastante segura de que estaba tratando de quitarte de encima de mí.
- Bueno, Matt no lo vio de esa manera puesto que me preguntó si tú eras mi novia.
-Oh Dios. ¿Qué historia inventaste está vez, Phillip?
Él sonríe. - Oh solo le dije que a pesar de que estas locamente enamorada de mí, no quiero estar atado, por lo que soló somos amigos. Por supuesto, lo que tendría que haber dicho es por favor solo llévatela, ella son muchos problemas de los que no valen la pena.”
― Jillian Dodd, quote from That Boy


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