“A man must sometimes laugh at himself or go mad,’ said he. ‘Few realize it. That is why there are so many madmen in the world.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“It came to Mr. Blood, as he trudged forward under the laden apple-trees on that fragrant, delicious July morning, that man—as he had long suspected—was the vilest work of God, and that only a fool would set himself up as a healer of a species that was best exterminated.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“But they were fated to misunderstand each other.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Open the history of the past at whatsoever page you will and there you shall find coincidence at work bringing about events that the merest chance might have averted. Indeed, coincidence may be defined as the tool used by Fate to shape the destinies of men and nations.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“It is not human to be wise,’ said Blood. ‘It is much more human to err, though perhaps exceptional to err on the side of mercy.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Peter Blood judged her- as we are all prone to do- upon insufficient knowledge.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“An intelligent observation of the facts of human existence will reveal to shallow-minded folk who sneer at the use of coincidence in the arts of fiction and drama that life itself is little more than a series of coincidences. Open the history of the past at whatsoever page you will, and there you shall find coincidence at work bringing about events that the merest chance might have averted. Indeed, coincidence may be defined as the very tool used by Fate to shape the destiny of men and nations. Observe it now at work in the affairs of Captain Blood and of some others.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“A man must sometimes laugh at himself or go mad--Few realize it. That is why there are so many madmen in the world.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Laughter broke from them. It spread into a roar of acclamation; for bluff is a weapon dear to every adventurer.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Life can be infernally complex,’ he said.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Take your time, now,’ said Mr. Blood. ‘I never knew speed made by overhaste.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Id is fery boedigal!" he said, his blue eyes twinkling. "Cabdain Blood is fond of boedry - you remember de abble-blossoms. So? Ha, ha!”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Gold has at all times been considered the best of testimonies of good faith...”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“He was recovering his normal self amazingly under the inspiring stimulus of conflict.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“If Mr. Blood had condescended to debate the matter with these ladies, he might have urged that having had his fill of wandering and adventuring, he was now embarked upon the career for which he had been originally intended and for which his studies had equipped him; that he was a man of medicine and not of war; a healer, not a slayer.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“There was a great historian lost in Wolverstone. He had the right imagination that knows just how far it is safe to stray from the truth and just how far to colour it so as to change its shape for his own purposes.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“And where are the other gentry that were taken?—the real leaders of this plaguey rebellion. Grey’s case explains their absence, I think. They are wealthy men that can ransom themselves. Here awaiting the gallows are none but the unfortunates who followed; those who had the honor to lead them go free. It’s a curious and instructive reversal of the usual way of things. Faith, it’s an uncertain world entirely!”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“He still had, you see, illusions about Christians.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“we are all too prone to judge—upon insufficient knowledge.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“He vowed that the thought of her should continue ever before him to help him keep his hands as clean as a man might in this desperate trade upon which he was embarking. And so, although he might entertain no delusive hope of ever winning her for his own, of ever seeing her again, yet the memory of her was to abide in his soul as a bitter-sweet, purifying influence. The love that is never to be realized will often remain a man’s guiding ideal.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“[Blood upon killing Levasseur] ‘I think that cancels the articles between us,’ he said.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“[W]e are all savages under the cloak that civilization fashions for us.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“Dragostea ce nu ajunge sa se materializeze niciodata ramane adesea idealul care-l ghideaza pe om.”
― Rafael Sabatini, quote from Captain Blood
“It is not important whether what he is chanting is true or not, whether you believe in it or not. Your decision to chant along with him is no measure of your commitment to justice or freedom or whatever lofty principle is at hand. Sometimes, radical slogans are a trap. They are shouted by infiltrators so that a group of students protesting a press crackdown can be depicted as seeking to overthrow the regime. Sometimes they are not traps at all but the frustrated stand of a brave person. But how are you to know? Your objective is to avoid being a pawn, to avoid getting dragged into trouble because you are curious, or believe you are seeing history being made." They”
― Shirin Ebadi, quote from Iran Awakening
“An estimated two thirds of the women who got criminal abortions were married. This means that up to two thirds of the botched abortions were done on married women; up to two thirds of the dead were married women; perhaps two thirds of the survivors are married women. This means that most of the women who risked death or maiming so as not to bear a child were married—perhaps one million married women each year. They were not shameless sluts, unless all women by definition are. They were not immoral in traditional terms—though, even then, they were thought of as promiscuous and single. Nevertheless, they were not women from the streets, but women from homes; they were not daughters in the homes of fathers, but wives in the homes of husbands. They were, quite simply, the good and respectable women of Amerika. The absolute equation of abortion with sexual promiscuity is a bizarre distortion of the real history of women and abortion—too distorted to be acceptable even in the United States, where historical memory reaches back one decade. Abortion has been legalized just under one decade. The facts should not be obliterated yet. Millions of respectable, God-fearing, married women have had illegal abortions. They thank their God that they survived; and they keep quiet.”
― Andrea Dworkin, quote from Right Wing Women
“She lied, sir. She has always lied. I don't think she ever spoke a word of truth. But when she spoke, I believed her.”
― Prosper Mérimée, quote from Carmen
“I'd still be a goofy frog because, guess what, I like being a frog.”
― Dandi Daley Mackall, quote from My Boyfriends' Dogs: The Tales of Adam and Eve and Shirley
“Writing is like breathing, it's possible to learn to do it well, but the point is to do it no matter what.”
― Julia Cameron, quote from The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation Into the Writing Life
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.
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