“It’s almost always sadder to stay than to depart”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“As ilhas são lugares de solidão e nunca isso é tão nítido como quando partem os que apenas vieram de passagem e ficam no cais, a despedir-se, os que vão permanecer. Na hora da despedida, é quase sempre mais triste ficar do que partir e, numa ilha, isso marca uma diferença fundamental, como se houvesse duas espécies de seres humanos: os que vivem na ilha e os que chegam e partem.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Luís Bernardo deixou-se ficar até ao fim, sozinho, mais sozinho do que nunca, como se toda a ilha se tivesse despovoado de repente e, por entre os sinais de abandono e de solidão, ele buscasse os sinais da passagem de Ann para não morrer de loucura.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Não conseguiu impedir-se de pensar se alguma vez, entre uma caçada e um concerto, D. Carlos se teria lembrado da missão que lhe confiara e do que ela poderia significar nas relações com Inglaterra.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Que mais de grandioso poderá levar você da vida?" A resposta é esta: deixei aqui a minha vida; que mais de grandioso poderia eu dar a El-Rei?”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Não sei se sou eu que vencerei as ilhas, ou elas que me vencerão a mim.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Pese a muitas consciências instaladas em maus hábitos ou em maus princípios, a razão porque me ofereci para defender dois réus indefesos e a razão porque estou aqui como governador das ilhas é uma e a mesma: porque eu, e muita gente comigo, entende que chegou a altura de Portugal ser, não apenas um país colonizador, mas também um país civilizador. Que podemos e devemos colher os frutos do nosso trabalho e da nossa riqueza colonial que devemos aos nossos antepassados, mas que nada nos desobriga de trazer em troca o progresso e a civilização.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“Todas as éticas são evolutivas: o que hoje é normal, amanhã será horrendo e o que hoje é crime, amanhã será banal.”
― Miguel Sousa Tavares, quote from Equador
“It's been my habit of mind, over these years, to understand that every situation in which human beings are involved can be turned on its head. Everything someone assures me to be true might not be. Every pillar of belief the world rests on may or may not be about to explode. Most things don't stay the way they are very long. Knowing this, however, has not made me cynical. Cynical means believing that good isn't possible; and I know for a fact that good is. I simply take nothing for granted and try to be ready for the change that's soon to come.”
― Richard Ford, quote from Canada
“You speak English beautifully, which means you can't be English.”
― Robert Aickman, quote from The Wine-Dark Sea
“A man may be poor; he may have nothing at all except his labour to sell; he may be a manual worker for a weekly wage, but in a free commonwealth he must enjoy as good a right as any lord, or prelate, or capitalist in the country to the integrity of his own political convictions.”
― Winston S. Churchill, quote from Churchill: The Power of Words
“Leaning close, Thomas whispered, “I think she’s gonna be my new ma.” Even though Thomas had never dared to think such a thing, now that he’d said it, it sounded like a good idea. Even though sometimes she got bossy, he knew that’s what ma’s did—told children what to do. But most of the time she was nice, and he really liked Mrs. Steadman. He knew she liked him, too. Rupert stared at Thomas, bug-eyed. “Your new ma? But … but she can’t!” “Why can’t she?” He shrugged. “She doesn’t have a husband, and she and my pa get along real good. She can be my new ma if she wants to.” Rupert shook his head. “My pa’s a deacon, and I know the rules. Your pa can’t marry her because she’s not part of our church.” “But she’s going to be.” Thomas stuck out his chin. “You’ll see.”
― Kim Vogel Sawyer, quote from Waiting for Summer's Return
“If we lived close to nature in an agricultural society, the seasons as metaphor and fact would continually frame our lives. But the master metaphor of our era does not come from agriculture - it comes from manufacturing. We do not believe that we 'grow' our lives - we believe that we 'make' them. Just listen to how we use the word in everyday speech: we make time, make friends, make meaning, make money, make a living, make love.”
― Parker J. Palmer, quote from Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
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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