“the pope had granted the accademia di San Luca the annual right – on saint Luke’s day – to free a condemned man.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“It was the prerogative of the powerful to betray their servants. You played their game or you played your own. The end was the same.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“CUTTING HIS BEATITUDE down to size on canvas and throwing rocks through his landlady’s window weren’t all M was doing on his return to Rome”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“M got into difficulties. Somebody – and since the client was dead it wasn’t clear who – didn’t like his two paintings.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“I can’t swallow Gregori’s insistent proposal of the Toothpuller as M’s and I think M used help on the second versions of early paintings like Lute Player II.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“Perhaps it was only that the sense of reaching out to something larger than yourself gives you some feeling that there is something larger - and there really has to be, because plainly you aren't sufficient to the situation.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from An Echo in the Bone
“A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of deception is not particularly exacting. It is a matter of experience, a professional expertise. It is a facility most of us can acquire. But while a confidence trickster, a play actor or a gambler can return from his performance to the ranks of his admirers, the secret agent enjoys no such relief. For him, deception is first a matter of self defense. He must protect himself not only from without, but from within, and against the most natural of impulses. Though he earn a fortune, his role may forbid him the purchase of a razor. Though he be erudite, it can befall him to mumble nothing but banalities. Though he be an affectionate husband and father, he must within all circumstances without himself from those with whom he should naturally confide. Aware of the overwhelming temptations which assail a man permanently isolated in his deceit, Limas resorted to the course which armed him best. Even when he was alone, he compelled himself to live with the personality he had assumed. It is said that Balzac on his deathbed inquired anxiously after the health and prosperity of characters he had created. Similarly, Limas, without relinquishing the power of invention, identified himself with what he had invented. The qualities he had exhibited to Fiedler: the restless uncertainty, the protective arrogance concealing shame were not approximations, but extensions of qualities he actually possessed. Hence, also, the slight dragging of the feet, the aspect of personal neglect, the indifference to food, and an increasing reliance on alcohol and tobacco. When alone, he remained faithful to these habits. He would even exaggerate them a little, mumbling to himself about the iniquities of his service. Only very rarely, as now, going to bed that evening, did he allow himself the dangerous luxury of admitting the great lie that he lived.”
― John le Carré, quote from The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
“Lacey said softly, "Tristan, you need to rest now. There's nothing you can do until you rest."
But he could not leave Ivy. He put his arms around her. She slipped through him and moved toward the bureau, taking the picture in her hands. He wrapped her in his arms again, but she only cried harder.
Then Ella was set lightly on the bureau top. Lacey's hands had done it. The cat rubbed up against Ivy's head.
"Oh, Ella, I don't know how to let go of him."
"Don't let go," Tristan begged.
"In the end, she must," Lacey warned.
"I've lost him, Ella, I know it. Tristan is dead. He can't hold me ever again. He can't think of me. He can't want me now. Love ends with death."
"It doesn't!" Tristan said. "I'll hold you again, I swear it, and you'll see that my love will never end."
"You're exhausted, Tristan," Lacey told him.
"I'll hold you, I'll love you forever!"
"If you don't rest now," Lacey said, "you'll become even more confused. It'll be hard to tell real from unreal, or to rouse yourself out of the darkness. Tristan, listen to me..."
But before she finished speaking, the darkness overtook him.”
― Elizabeth Chandler, quote from Kissed by an Angel/The Power of Love/Soulmates
“I wandered in the darkness looking for something better, something real. I found you, and I'll be damned if I'm going to lose you.”
― Sylvain Reynard, quote from Gabriel's Rapture
“You are the soul that fits into mine”
― Lauren Kate, quote from Rapture
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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