“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
“When Gould arrives at a party, people who have never seen him before usually take one look at him and edge away. Before the evening is over, however, a few of them almost always develop a kind of puzzled respect for him; they get him in a corner, ask him questions, and try to determine what is wrong with him. Gould enjoys this. "When you came over and kissed my hand," a young woman told him one night, "I said to myself, 'what a nice old gentleman.' A minute later I looked around and you were bouncing up and down with your shirt off, imitating a wild Indian. I was shocked. Why do you have to be such an exhibitionist?" "Madam," Gould said, "it is the duty of the bohemian to make a spectacle of himself. If my informality leads you to believe that I'm a rum-dumb, or that I belong in Bellevue, hold fast to that belier, hold fast, hold fast, and show your ignorance.”
― Joseph Mitchell, quote from Up in the Old Hotel
“I held up my hands. 'I thought you could use a punching bag.' See, this is me, the new and improved Nick Pardee, available to girlfriends and crazy people in their time of need.”
― Tessa Gratton, quote from Blood Magic
“I couldn't make up anything as weird as what is.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from One Door Away from Heaven
“How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that's made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead ... that's the miracle.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“I have been distracted from my duty as a father to some extent, but there is no greater exercise to a man’s talents than the upbringing of his son.”
― Conn Iggulden, quote from The Gates of Rome
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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