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In Watermelon Sugar

by Richard Brautigan · 1968

iDEATH is a place where the sun shines a different colour every day and where people travel to the length of their dreams. Rejecting the violence and hate of the old gang at the Forgotten Works, they lead gentle lives in… more

19 quotes ★ 3.77 (25,409) Fiction

Quotes from the Book

My Name “I guess you are kind of curious as to who I am, but I am one of those who do not have a regular name. My name depends on you. Just call me whatever is in your mind. If you are thinking about something that happened a long time ago: Somebody asked you a question and you did not know the answer. That is my name. Perhaps it was raining very hard. That is my name. Or somebody wanted you to do something. You did it. Then they told you what you did was wrong—“Sorry for the mistake,”—and you had to do something else. That is my name. Perhaps it was a game you played when you were a child or something that came idly into your mind when you were old and sitting in a chair near the window. That is my name. Or you walked someplace. There were flowers all around. That is my name. Perhaps you stared into a river. There as something near you who loved you. They were about to touch you. You could feel this before it happened. Then it happened. That is my name.
183
I'll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.
179
In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar.
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If you are thinking about something that happened a long time ago: Somebody asked you a question and you did not know the answer. That is my name.
93
We walked back to iDEATH, holding hands. Hands are very nice things, especially after they have travelled back from making love.
59
Her hand had a lot of strength gained through the process of gentleness.
32
The heart is something else. Nobody knows what's going to happen,' I said
19
The two evening stars were now shining side by side. The smaller one had moved over to the big one. They were very close now, almost touching, and then they went together and become one very large star. I don't know if things like that are fair or not.
17
We call everything a river here. We are that kind of people.
14
By the way, Doc Edwards said. How's that book coming along? Oh, it's coming along. Fine. What's it about? Just what I'm writing down: one word after another. Good.
14
I read the note and it did not please me and I threw it away, so not even time could find it.
13
We're just like you,' the other tiger said. 'We speak the same language you do. We think the same thought. But we're tigers.' 'You could help me with arithmetic,' I said. 'What's that?' one of the tigers said. 'My arithmetic.' 'Oh, your arithmetic.' 'Yeah.' 'What do you want to know?' one of the tigers said. 'What's nine times nine?' 'Eighty-one,' a tiger said. 'What's eight times eight?' 'Fifty-six,' a tiger said. I asked them half of dozen other questions: six times six, seven times four, etc. I was having a lot of trouble with arithmetic. Finally the tigers got bored with my questions and told me to go away. 'OK,' I said. 'I'll go outside.' 'Don't go too far,' one of the tigers said. 'We don't want anyone to come up here and kill us.' 'OK.' They both went back to eating my parents. I went outside and sat down by the river. 'I'm an orphan,' I said.
12
Je reste des heures entières debout au même endroit, presque sans bouger (j’ai même vu le vent s’arrêter dans ma main)
10
Hands are very nice things, especially after they have travelled back from making love.
6
The Forgotten Works just go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. You get the picture. It's a big place, much bigger than we are.
6
Wherever you are, we must do the best we can. It is so far to travel, and we have nothing here to travel, except watermelon sugar..
1
How's that book coming along?" "Oh, it's coming along." Fine. What's it about?" Just what I'm writing down: one word after another." "Good.
1
Sanırım kim olduğumu merak edip duruyorsun, ama sürekli bir adı olmayanlardanım. Adım sana bağlı. Aklından ne geçerse bana öyle seslen. Çok eskiden olmuş bir şey düşünüyorsan; diyelim biri sana bir soru sordu, sen de yanıtını bilmiyordun. Benim adım bu. Belki de bardaktan boşanır gibi yağmur yağıyor. Benim adım bu. Ya da biri senden bir şey yapmanı istedi. İstedğini yaptın. Gelgelelim yaptığının yanlış bir şey olduğunu söylediler-“bağışla bir yanlışlık oldu,”- ve başka bir şey yapmak zorunda kaldın. Benim adım bu. Belki de çocukken oynadığın bir oyun ya da yaşlanıp pencerenin yanındaki sandalyende otururken durup dururken anımsadığın bir şey. Benim adım bu. Ya da bir yerlere yürüdün her yan çiçek doluydu. Benim adım bu. Belki de bir ırmağa bakakaldın. Yanında seni seven biri vardı. Sana dokundu dokunacak. Daha dokunmadan bunu duyumsadın, anladın dokunacağını. Sonra dokunuverdi. Benim adım bu. Ya da çok uzaklardan birinin seslendiğini duydun. Sesi neredeyse bir yankıydı. Benim adım bu.
1
I will tell you. This place stinks. This isn't iDEATH at all. This is just a figment of your imagination. All of you guys here are just a bunch of clucks, doing clucky things at your clucky iDEATH.

About Richard Brautigan

We have collected 79 quotes from 6 books by Richard Brautigan on BookQuoters.

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About the book

iDEATH is a place where the sun shines a different colour every day and where people travel to the length of their dreams. Rejecting the violence and hate of the old gang at the Forgotten Works, they lead gentle lives in watermelon sugar. In this book, Richard Brautigan discovers and expresses the mood of the counterculture generation.

Book details

First published
1968
Genre
Fiction
Goodreads rating
3.77 (25k ratings)

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