Quotes from Parrot and Olivier in America

“I have traveled widely. I have seen this country in its infancy. I tell you what it will become. The public squares will be occupied by an uneducated class who will not be able to quote a line of Shakespeare.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

“I had known loneliness before, and emptiness upon the moor, but I had never been a NOTHING, a nothing floating on a nothing, known by nothing, lonelier and colder than the space between the stars. It was more frightening than being dead.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

“What a torture to hear that a life had been available to me that I had not been man enough to live.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

“Would you rather have the lords and nobles back? What is Democracy for? Not so we can rob each other. Or cheat.' I said cheat and felt the teeth in it, the cleat, the cut, the eat.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

“The seamen had whitewashed the smoky ceilings of the ward, and that dear homely smell carried the vividness of thatch and lumpy walls and stew given from the goodness of a stranger's heart. But that was all there was of comfort, and the salt air had turned from cold to warm in the passing of a life, an afternoon.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

“[Democracy] is as without plans as it is without energy, as incapable of harm as it is incapable of good. It is powerless and passive. It lets society marcher tout seul without trying to direct it. Well, in the present state of affairs, it is perfect, no? In order to prosper? America does not need either leadership or deep-laid plans or great efforts, but liberty and still more liberty. The reason for this is that no one yet has any interest in abusing liberty. but wait, monsieur. It may take a century but le fou viendra.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Parrot and Olivier in America

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“It was one of those feminine faces whose every line has its own particular charm, and seems to possess a meaning, whose every movement seems to reveal or to conceal something.”
― Guy de Maupassant, quote from Bel-Ami

“I asked why you want to keep your clothes on. Are you scarred?”
Shiver bumps dotted her skin. “No.” Not physically, at least.
“It will not bother me if you are. I swear. I will kiss them better,” he said huskily.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Kiss

“He kisses me like I’m his canvas.”
― Colleen Hoover, quote from Confess

“Ali čovek zaboravlja stvarnost i pamti samo reci. Što je reči više upamtio, to ga pametnijim smatrajunjegovi drugovi. On gleda velike transformacije sveta, ali ih ne vidi onako kako su bile sagledane od prvog čoveka koji se suočio sa stvarnošću.

Radije tražite to Bezimeno u sebi, to što nadolazi dok mu se obraćam. Ono ne opaža moje reči, već realnost u meni, čiji je deo. To je atman, koji čuje mene, a ne moje reči. Sve ostalo je nestvarno. Definisati znači izgubiti. Bezimeno je suština svih stvari. Bezimeno je nesaznatljivo, moćnije čak i od samog Brame. Stvari prolaze, ali suština ostaje.

Snovi bivstva su san u formama. Forme prolaze, nestaju, ali bivstvo ostaje; i sanja nove snove. Čovek tim snovima daje imena i zamišlja da je uhvatio bivstvo samo, a ne zna da samo priziva privide.

PONEKAD, MOŽDA, POJAVI SE SANJAR KOJI JE SVESTAN DA SANJA. ON MOŽDA KONTROLIŠE DELIĆ SUPSTANCE SNA, U STANJU JE DA TOM SUPSTANCOM RASPOLAŽE PO SVOJOJ VOLJI, ILI MOŽDA USPEVA DA SE PONEKAD DELIMIČNO PROBUDI, DOSPEVAJUĆI TAKO DO POVEĆANE SAMOSPOZNAJE. AKO IZABERE PUT SAMOSPOZNAJE, NJEGOVA SLAVA ĆE BITI VELIKA, KROZ SVE VEKOVE ON ĆE SIJATI KAO ZVEZDA. ALI AKO SE, MEĐUTIM, OPREDELI ZA STAZU TANTRI, GDE SE SPAJAJU SAMSARA I NIRVANA, GDE SE SVET SHVATA ALI SE ISTOVREMENO U NJEMU ŽIVI, ON ĆE BITI JEDAN OD MOĆNIH MEĐU SANJARIMA. MOĆ SVOJU ON MOŽE UPOTREBITI ZA ZLO ILI ZA DOBRO.

Živeti u Samsari, međutim, znači biti podložan uticaju moćnih sanjara. Ako oni moć koriste za dobro, nastaju zlatna vremena. Ako je koriste za zlo, nastaju mračna vremena. San se može preobraziti u košmar.

Čovek mora prvo da odradi opterećenja svoje karme, svog mesa, tela, pre nego što dostigne prosvetljenje.

U svetlosti večnih istina, kažu mudraci, patnja je kao ništa; u terminima Samsare, kažu mudraci, ona vodi dobru.

Bezimeno, čiji smo deo svi mi, sanja formu. Koji je najviši atribut ijednoj formi dostupan? Lepota. Bezimeno je, dakle, umetnik. Problem, dakle, nije u oblasti dileme dobro - zlo, nego u estetskoj oblasti. Boriti se protiv onih koji su među sanjarima moćni a koji svoju moć koriste za zlo ili za ružnoću, ne znači boriti se za ono čemu su nas mudraci podučili da je besmisleno u terminima Samsare ili Nirvane, već znači boriti se da san bude sanjan, simetrično, ritmično, sa poentom i kontrapunktom, izbalansirano, tako da postane lep kao umetničko delo.”
― Roger Zelazny, quote from Lord of Light

“Are we entirely ready, sir?" said Lieutenant Hornett, with the special inflection that means "We are not entirely ready, sir."

"We had better be. Glory awaits, gentlemen. In the words of General Tacticus, 'let us take history by the scrotum.' Of course, he was not a very honourable fighter.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Jingo

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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.