Quotes from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Some people confess in the flesh, others on paper.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Why, if Daniel Haws was to take out his naked cock and shake it in your face, you’d die of apoplexy.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Mexican marijuana, which he called the schoolboy’s consolation.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Amos, talk about pearls for teeth ... you got ‘em. No wonder the boys go for you, because I could too and if I had something to push between those pearly teeth I’d be first in line.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“It was paper, as he had once joked to Amos, that he was really queer for.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“One fine day you’ve got to give your body to somebody, or turn into a fully-fledged zombie.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Carla had the American woman’s fixed idea that love can cure, love can heal, love can bind a flowing wound.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“She made no point of concealing the truth, for the truth was all she could bear now.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Ace sat down and inflated his cheeks like the wind gods in Italian paintings.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Most people have their buttons,” Eustace continued.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“There was the cruel kind of Eustace silence.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“Maureen had been born with the face of a gargoyle on the body of a sylph.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

“One morning while drinking coffee with Amos, Daniel Haws looked up suddenly, as if feeling the boy’s eyes on him, and said:
“Tryin’ to burn holes starin’ like that?”
“Guess I was just resting my eyes on you so as not to look at your wallpaper,” Amos gave a sour apology.
Daniel closed the book he was reading, a volume of Rhodes’s history of the United States, and took a careful look at the kitchen wallpaper.
“Yes,” he admitted, “that wallpaper is goddam ancient.”
― James Purdy, quote from Eustace Chisholm and the Works

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About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.