Quotes from Mrs. Bridge

“ She was not certain what she wanted from life, or what to expect from it, for she had seen so little of it, but she was sure that in some way - because she willed it to be so - her wants and her expectations were the same.
For a while after their marriage she was in such demand that it was not unpleasant when he fell asleep. Presently, however, he began sleeping all night, and it was then she awoke more frequently, and looked into the darkness, wondering about the nature of men, doubtful of the future, until at last there came a night when she shook her husband awake and spoke of her own desire. Affably he placed one of his long white arms around her waist; she turned to him then, contentedly, expectantly, and secure. However, nothing else occurred, and in a few minutes he had gone back to sleep.
This was the night Mrs. Bridge concluded that while marriage might be an equitable affair, love itself was not.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“Her first name was India-she was never able to get used to it.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“He remembered enthusiasm, hope, and a kind of jubilation or exultation. Cheerfulness, yes, and joviality, and the brief gratification of sex. Gladness, too, fullness of heart, appreciation, and many other emotions. But not joy. No, that belonged to simpler minds.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“But not joy. No, that belonged to simpler minds.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“You’re not as cold as you pretend to be,’ she said. ‘I think your doors open in different places, that’s all. Most people just don’t know how to get in to you. They knock and they knock where the door is supposed to be, but it’s a blank wall. But you’re there. I’ve watched you. I’ve seen you do some awfully cold things warmly and some warm things coldly. Or does that make sense?”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“The years were falling over like ducks in a shooting gallery, and it seemed to Mr. Bridge that he had scarcely taken aim at one when it disappeared.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“I wouldn't have missed it for the world," said Mrs. Bridge, smiling all around, "and I feel awfully lucky. Even so we were certainly glad to see the Union Station. I suppose no matter how far you go there's no place like home."

She could see they agreed with her, and surely what she had said was true, yet she was troubled and for a moment she was almost engulfed by a nameless panic.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“some people go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently into a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been made to see all it may contain; and”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“Trenta, trentacinque, quaranta: gli anni erano sempre passati a farle visita come zie criticone, e sempre erano scomparsi senza lasciare traccia, senza fare rumore. E adesso ne era arrivato un altro.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

“Passava molto tempo a fissare il vuoto, oppressa da un senso di attesa. Ma attesa di che cosa? Non lo sapeva.”
― Evan S. Connell, quote from Mrs. Bridge

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Popular quotes

“Ede had been pregnant not quite the full term: eight months, two weeks, four days. She had lapsed into an extended silence - partly because she was still in mourning - still enraged and afraid of speech. And partly, too, because the child itself had taken up dreaming in her belly - dreaming and, Ede was certain, singing. Not singing songs a person knew, of course. Nothing Ede could recognize. But songs for certain. Music - with a tune to it. Evocative. A song about self. A song about place. As if a bird had sung it, sitting in a tree at the edge of a field. Or high in the air above a field. A hovering song. Of recognition.”
― Timothy Findley, quote from The Piano Man's Daughter

“Круг се поддаде на нежния топъл напор на сълзите, с присъщата за това действие наслада. Чувството не облекчение не продължи дълго, защото едва им бе разрешил да потекат, и те рукнаха, безмилостно горещи и обилни, замъглиха очите му и го задавиха. Обгърнат от спазматична мъгла, той вървеше по павираната „Обожемой Лейн“ към брега. Опита да се поизкашля, но това само предизвика нов конвулсивен пристъп на сълзи. Вече съжаляваше, че се бе поддал на изкушението, защото не можеше да върне назад своето отстъпление и треперещият човек в него бе залят от сълзи. Както обикновено, той различаваше треперещия от наблюдателя: гледащ със загриженост, със съчувствие, с въздишка или с вежливо удивление. Това бе последното убежище на ненавистния му дуализъм. Корен квадратен от Аз е равен на Аз. Бележки под линия, незабравки. От някакъв абстрактен бряг другоземецът спокойна наблюдава течението на местната скръб. Позната фигура, макар анонимна и отчуждена. Той видя, че хлипам, когато бях десетгодишен, и ме отведе до едно огледало в някаква необитаема стая (с празна клетка за папагал в ъгъла), за да разгледам внимателно своето размиващо се лице. Повдигнал вежди, той слушаше как говоря неща, които изобщо нямах право да говоря. Във всяка от маските, които изпробвах, имаше прорези за неговите очи. Дори в миговете, когато бивах разтърсван от конвулсии, най-високо ценени от мъжа. Моят спасител. Моят свидетел. И Круг бръкна в джоба за кърпичката си, неясно бяло петно някъде в глъбините на неговата лична нощ. Измъквайки се най-после от лабиринта на джобовете, той попи и изтри тъмното небе и обезформените къщи, и видя, че наближава моста.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Bend Sinister

“He stopped. “You're upset. I'll shut up and leave you”
― Iris Johansen, quote from The Killing Game

“Weddings, I began to understand, were vile, filthy things when they ran amuck.”
― Laurie Notaro, quote from Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood

“When she spread her wings and leaped screeching into the air she had not the slightest doubt that every hand below her would stretch to catch her. And if one could leap from a height with no fear of falling, could one not be said to possess the secret of flight? Just like a bird, just like a god.”
― David Anthony Durham, quote from Acacia: The War with the Mein

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