Quotes from Double Identity

“A thousand times today I've started to open my mouth, started to squeak out, "Can you tell me...? But then I'd look into the front seat, at my mother's silent shaking, my father's grim profile, the mournful bags under his eyes, and all the questions I might ask seemed abusive. Assault and battery, a question mark used like a club. My parents are old and fragile. I'd have to heartless to want to hurt them.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, quote from Double Identity

“The sudden silence is horrifying, and it seems to catch my mother off guard. A tiny whimper escapes her, the sound amplified in the stillness. Surely, my father hears her now; surely he and I can't go on pretending she isn't crying.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, quote from Double Identity

“That porch is a happy-looking place, and my father - burdened, stoop-shouldered, cadaverously thin - doesn't seem to belong on it.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, quote from Double Identity

“Unlike my mother, my father does not cry quietly. His wails roll out like a wave of pain, and I scramble to roll up my window. My mother cannot hear that. I cannot bear to hear it myself. I am not used to my father's crying. I've had no time to harden my heart against him.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, quote from Double Identity

“Oh, Myr," he chokes out. "I hate having to ask this of you..."
He glances towards the car again, and I crouch down in the shadows, hoping it's too dark for him to see whether the window is open or closed. The woman pats his arm, cradling her hand against his elbow.
"You know I'd do anything for you and Hil," she says. I like her voice. It's throaty and rich.
"You'd do anything?" my father repeats numbly. "Even now? After -?"
"Even now," the woman says firmly.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, quote from Double Identity

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Popular quotes

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
― C.S. Lewis, quote from The Four Loves

“At this stage of life, he'd better just lean into love, because if he fell, he feared he might break a hip.”
― Susan Vreeland, quote from Luncheon of the Boating Party

“The criers of the Mysteries speak again, bidding all men welcome to the House of Light. The great institution of materiality has failed. The false civilization built by man has turned, and like the monster of Frankenstein, is destroying its creator. Religion wanders aimlessly in the maze of theological speculation. Science batters itself impotently against the barriers of the unknown. Only transcendental philosophy knows the path. Only the illumined reason can carry the understanding part of man upward to the light. Only philosophy can teach man to be born well, to live well, to die well, and in perfect measure be born again. Into this band of the elect--those who have chosen the life of knowledge, of virtue, and of utility--the philosophers of the ages invite YOU.”
― Manly P. Hall, quote from Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic, and Ro

“Три жълти луни, по една за всеки, бяха накацали през прозореца и се забавляваха да правят гримаси на братята. Те, и тримата по нощници, се бяха пъхнали в леглото на Ситроен, откъдето най-добре се виждаха луните. Трите им опитомени мечета танцуваха в кръг около леглото и пееха тихичко, за да не събудят Клемантин – тази бавачка на омари. Ситроен лежеше между Ноел и Жоел и изглеждаше замислен. Той криеше нещо в ръцете си.
- Търся думи – каза той на братята си. – Тази започва с…
Той млъкна.
- Готово. Намерих я.
Той сложи ръце пред устата си и каза нещо много тихо. След това остави на юрганчето това, което държеше. Беше малък бял скакалец.
Мечетата веднага дойдоха и седнаха около него.
- Пазете се – каза Жоел, - нищо не виждам.
Мечетата се отстраниха и обърнаха гръб на леглото. Скакалецът ги поздрави и започна да прави акробатически номера. Децата искрено му се възхищаваха.
Но той много бързо се умори, изпрати им въздушна целувка, скочи много високо и изчезна.
Никой не се разтревожи. Ситроен вдигна пръста си.
- Знам друго нещо! – каза мъдро той. – Когато намерим бълхи, трябва да ги накараме да ни ухапят три пъти.
- Е, и? – попита Ноел.
- Тогава – отвърна Ситроен –
- Е можем да ставаме толкова малки, колкото си поискаме.
- И да минаваме под вратите?
- То се знае – отговори Ситроен. – Ще можем да ставаме малки като бълхи.
Мечетата се приближиха, това ги бе за интересувало.
- А може ли, като изговаряме думите обратно, да станем големи? – попитаха те в един глас.
- Не – рече Ситроен. – Така сте си много добре. Но ако искате, мога да направя така, че да ви пораснат маймунски опашки.
- Хич не искам – каза мечето на Жоел. – Благодаря!
Мечето на Ноел също отказа. А третото още мислеше.
- Ще си помисля – рече то.
Ноел започна да се прозява.
- Спи ми се. Отивам си в леглото – каза той.
- Аз също – каза Жоел.
След няколко минути те вече спяха. Само Ситроен беше буден, той гледаше ръцете си и намигваше. Когато намигаше по специален начин, му порастваха още два пръста. Утре щеше да научи братята си на това.”
― Boris Vian, quote from Heartsnatcher

“Frowning, puzzled, I cross my arms over my chest. "Go to hell." His eyebrows lift as he draws near enough so that I can accept his offer of wine, and smell his pungent breath. " Not without you, my dear”
― Marianne Curley, quote from Old Magic

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