“That's the trouble with loving a wild thing: You're always left watching the door.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“East of the sun and west of the moon.' As unfathomable as the words were, I realized I must figure them out, reason it through. For I would go to this impossible land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. From the moment the sleigh had vanished from sight and I could no longer hear the silver bells I knew that I would go after the stranger that had been the white bear to make right the terrible wrong I had done him.... All that mattered was to make things right. And I would do whatever it took, journey to wherever I must, to reach that goal.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“And telling a story, I suppose, is like winding a skein of spun yarn- you sometimes lose track of the beginning.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“The joy I feel is immense; it burns inside me as though I have swallowed a piece of the sun.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“East of the sun and west of the moon.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“It was the difference between walking with a stranger and walking with your heartmate. It was the difference between working for duty and working for love.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“She would search for him.
In the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon.
But there was no way there.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“A pine needle fell in the forest. The hawk saw it. The deer heard it. The white bear smelled it”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“Here.
After so long waiting.
Her purple eyes.
Torn cloak.
Skin pale, sheer as ice.
Exhausted.
But unafraid.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“It is odd, the twists that life will sometimes take. The ewe that you think will give birth with ease dies bringing forth a two-headed lamb. Or the ski trail that you have been told is treacherous, you navigate easily.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“It was not a monster that lay sleeping on the white sheets. Nor a faceless horror. Nor even the white bear.
It was a man.
His hair was golden, glowing bright as a bonfire in the light of the candle. And his features were fair, I suppose, but he was a stranger and that somehow was the greatest shock of all- that I had been lying all these months beside a complete stranger.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“That's the trouble with loving a wild thing: You're always left watching the door.
But you also get kind of used to it.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“I crossed the room to him. "I love you," I said in a rush, afraid I would change my mind.
"Charles," he replied.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“They journeyed far and the white bear said, "Are you afraid?"
"No," she replied. "I am not afraid.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“Neither Rose nor Charles liked to talk much of their adventures with the trolls, but some of the so-called "softskins" whom they had brought out of Niflheim, as well as the crew of the ship Soren had hired to go north to find Rose, must have spread the story, because for many years afterward, there were tales of a race of trolls living on top of the world.
Only Rose and her white bear know the whole truth of it.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“Where is it?" I asked, willing him to tell me.
He laughed suddenly, and I could hear the full-throated, grating sound of the white bear's laughter in it.
"East of the sun and west of the moon," he said.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
“I knelt by the design. Yes, there was the sun rising. But the white form I had always thought to be a cloud was a bear. I could see it now, upside down. White bear, isbjorn, stood for north. Father had not been able to help himself. The truth was there, too. Truth and lie, side by side.”
― Edith Pattou, quote from East
Edith Pattou
Born place: Evanston, Illinois, The United States
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“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.”
― Aldous Huxley, quote from Uljas uusi maailma
“Or maybe I’m just a reckless fool, the way I was when I once jumped eighty feet off Foster Falls, near Sequatchie, Tennessee, or went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane. You could say—and some have—that I have a death wish. Not sure. I believe it’s more accurate to say I have a risk wish, somehow clinging to the notion that achieving these audacious feats will somehow make me worthy, make me special, as if I’d taken some magical, esteem-enhancing drug.”
― quote from Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball
“I have always been suspicious of the phrase, the glow of pregnancy, and my suspicions were only confirmed by Lillian's appearance. Instead of a glow, her whole body seemed to become more and more dull, sallow and sickly sweet and vague, like a candle burning out or a line of smudged writing.”
― John Burnside, quote from The Dumb House
“Present us with a silver cup for something when you're a filthy rich lawyer, I dare say? Yes. You'll be a lawyer. Magnificent memory. Sense of logic, no imagination and no brains.”
― Jane Gardam, quote from Old Filth
“Moon, can Tamarin touch your face?”
― Tui T. Sutherland, quote from Moon Rising
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The Sandman: Endless...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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