Quotes from Railsea

“People have wanted to narrate since first we banged rocks together & wondered about fire. There’ll be tellings as long as there are any of us here, until the stars disappear one by one like turned-out lights.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“Technically, our name, to those who speak science, is Homo sapiens— wise person. But we have been described in many other ways. Homo narrans, juridicus, ludens, diaspora: we are storytelling, legal, game-playing, scattered people, too. True but incomplete. That old phrase has the secret. We are all, have always been, will always be, Homo vorago aperientis: person before whom opens a vast & awesome hole.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“Do please,” said Captain Naphi, “expedite this journey relevance-ward.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“Heaven might not be what everyone thinks it is, but that don’t mean it’s a myth.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“Humans like nothing more than to pigeonhole the events & phenomena that punctuate their lives.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“There were times, Sham felt, when the captains regretted there being only two types of limb they could lose to their obsessions.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“There was a time when wen we did not form all our words as we do now, in writing on a page. There was a time when the word "&" was written with several distinct & separate letters. It seems madness now. But there it is, & there is nothing we can do about it.

Humanity learned to ride the rails, & that motion made us what we are, a ferromaritime people. The lines of the railsea go everywhere but from one place straight to another. It is always switchback, junction, coils around & over our own train-trails.

What word better could there be to symbolize the railsea that connects & separates all lands, than “&” itself? Where else does the railsea take us, but to one place & that one & that one & that one, & so on? & what better embodies, in the sweep of the pen, the recurved motion of trains, than “&”?

An efficient route from where we start to where we end would make the word the tiniest line. But it takes a veering route, up & backwards, overshooting & correcting, back down again south & west, crossing its own earlier path, changing direction, another overlap, to stop, finally, a few hairs’ width from where we began.

& tacks & yaws, switches on its way to where it’s going, as we all must do.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“History seemed meaningless here, or at least bewildered.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

“Standing there on his new perch, Sham was overwhelmingly bored of feeling overwhelmed. The more he worked, he realized, the quicker he worked.”
― China Miéville, quote from Railsea

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Popular quotes

“Effective altruism is about asking "How can I make the biggest difference I can?" and using evidence and careful reasoning to try to find an answer. It takes a scientific approach to doing good. Just as science consists of the honest and impartial attempt to work out what's true, and a committment to believe the truth whatever that turns out to be. As the phrase suggests, effective altruism consists of the honest and impartial attempt to work out what's best for the world, and a commitment to do what's best, whatever that turns out to be.”
― William MacAskill, quote from Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference

“Your hindrance? Trying to build your dream without the Dreammaker.”
― T.D. Jakes, quote from Destiny: Step into Your Purpose

“It's amazing to see the beauty of the world. It's so beautiful and so brutal. It's a reminder that every second of life is precious.”
― Sally Green, quote from Half Lost

“باید یک چیز را به من قول بدهی. تو قلب عجیبی داری زه زه

ـ به شما قول می دهم، اما نمی خواهم گولتان بزنم. من قلب عجیبی ندارم. شما این را می گویید چون من را در خانه نمی شناسید

ـ این مهم نیست. برای من تو قلب عجیبی داری. بعد از این نمی خواهم که برایم گل بیاوری، مگر اینکه به تو گلی بدهند. قول می دهی؟

ـ قول می دهم. اما لیوان؟ همیشه خالی می ماند؟

ـ این لیوان دیگر ابداً خالی نمی ماند. وقتی به آن نگاه می کنم قشنگ ترین گلهای دنیا را در آن می بینم و آن وقت فکر می کنم این گل را بهترین شاگردم به من هدیه داده است. قبول؟

دیگر می خندید. دستم را رها کرد و با مهربانی گفت: حالا می توانی بروی، قلب طلایی کوچولو
”
― José Mauro de Vasconcelos, quote from My Sweet Orange Tree

“All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a simple lonely action.”
― Mark Goulston, quote from Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior

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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.

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