Quotes from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“I don't have to listen to rumors about a man when I can judge him for myself.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“They say The Pacific has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Andy was the part of me they could never lock up, the part of me that will rejoice when the gates finally open for me and I walk out in my cheap suit with my twenty dollars of mad-money in my pocket. That part of me will rejoice no matter how old and broken and scared the rest of me is. I guess it's just that Andy had more of that part than me, and used it better. -Red”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Anyway, as the old barrelhouse song says, My God, how the money rolled in. Norton must have subscribed to the old Puritan notion that the best way to figure out which folks God favours is by checking their bank acounts.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.’ – AC/DC”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“I hope he died of intestinal cancer in a part of the world where morphine is as of yet undiscovered.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“It always comes down to two choices; Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Get busy living or get busy dying...”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Get busy living, or get busy dying”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Get busy living or get busy dying”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Writing about yourself seems to be a lot like sticking a branch into clear river-water and rolling up the muddy bottom.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Así que, bueno, si me pides una respuesta clara a la pregunta de si intento hablarte de un hombre o de la leyenda que fue creciendo alrededor de ese hombre como lo hace la perla alrededor de un granito de arena, tendría que decirte que la respuesta está en algún punto intermedio entre hombre y leyenda. Lo único que sé a ciencia cierta es que Andy Dufresne no era como yo ni como ningún otro individuo que yo haya conocido desde que estoy en la cárcel. Entró en la cárcel con quinientos dólares en su puerta trasera, pero aquel sesudo hijo de perra logró no sé cómo entrar también con algo más. Un sentido de su propia valía, quizás, o la certeza de que al final ganaría él... o quizá fuera sólo el sentido de la libertad, dentro incluso de estos muros grises malditos. Era una especie de luz interior que llevaba consigo a todas partes. Sólo una vez le vi perder esa luz, y también eso forma parte de esta historia.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“—Cuando llega la hora de la verdad, en realidad sólo existen dos tipos de hombres en el mundo —dijo Andy, protegiendo una cerilla con ambas manos ahuecadas y encendiendo un cigarrillo—. Supongamos, Red, que hubiera una casa llena de pinturas y esculturas extrañas y de bellos objetos antiguos. Y supongamos que el propietario de la casa se enterara de que un huracán espantoso avanzaba precisamente en aquella dirección. Uno de los dos tipos de hombres a que me refiero, sencillamente espera que suceda lo mejor. El huracán puede cambiar de curso, se dice a sí mismo. Ningún huracán bien pensante se atrevería jamás a destruir todos esos Rembrandts, mis dos caballos de Degas, mis Grant Wood y mis Benton. Además, Dios no lo permitiría. Y si de todos modos ocurriera lo peor, están asegurados. Ése es un tipo de hombre. El otro sencillamente supone que el huracán arrasará la casa sin más. Si el centro meteorológico anuncia que el huracán ha cambiado de curso, este individuo cree que volverá a cambiar para arrasar su casa. Este segundo tipo de individuo sabe que no existe mal alguno en esperar lo mejor, siempre que estés preparado para lo peor.
Yo también encendí un cigarrillo.
—¿Me estás diciendo que estás preparado para la eventualidad?
—Sí. Estoy preparado para el huracán.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Claro que recuerdo el nombre. Zihuatanejo. Un nombre así es demasiado bello para olvidarlo.
Estoy nerviosísimo; tan nervioso que casi no puedo sostener el lápiz en mi mano temblorosa. Creo que es el nerviosismo que sólo un hombre libre puede sentir, un hombre libre que inicia un largo viaje cuyo final es incierto.
Tengo la esperanza de que Andy esté allá.
Tengo la esperanza de poder cruzar la frontera.
Tengo la esperanza de encontrar a mi amigo y estrecharle la mano.
Tengo la esperanza de que el Pacífico sea tan azul como en mis sueños.
Tengo esperanza.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Cuatro tragos al año... sólo actúa así alguien a quien la bebida le ha pegado muy fuerte... con fuerza suficiente para hacerle sangrar.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Te conceden la vida, te permiten vivir, y eso es precisamente lo que te impiden, lo que te quitan, o te quitan al menos todo cuanto en la vida merece la pena.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Le había dicho que se paseaba por el patio como si estuviera en una fiesta. Yo no lo habría expresado así, pero entiendo lo que quería decir. Tiene relación con lo que dije de que Andy llevaba su libertad como un abrigo invisible y con lo que dije de que nunca llegó a tener en realidad una mentalidad carcelaria. Nunca llegó a tener esa mirada obtusa. Nunca llegó a caminar como caminan los hombres cuando termina la jornada y han de volver a sus celdas para otra noche interminable... encorvados, aturdidos. Andy caminaba erguido y con paso vivo siempre, como quien se dirige a casa, donde le aguardan una buena cena hogareña y una buena mujer, y no la bazofia insípida de verduras pastosas, puré de patatas grumoso y una o dos tajadas de ese material cartilaginoso y grasiento que casi todos los presos llaman «carne de enigma»... eso y una foto de Raquel Welch en la pared.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“—Zihuatanejo —lo dijo pronunciando la palabra con una lentitud musical—. Allá abajo, en México. Es un pequeño lugar que queda a unos treinta kilómetros de Playa Azul. Unos ciento sesenta kilómetros al noroeste de Acapulco, en la costa del Pacífico. ¿Sabes lo que dicen los mexicanos del Pacífico? Le dije que no lo sabía.

—Dicen que no tiene memoria. Y precisamente por eso. Red, quiero acabar allí mis días. En un lugar cálido y sin memoria.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“—Diablos, ni siquiera tengo un título de bachiller.
—Ya lo sé —dijo—. Pero no es una hoja de papel lo que hace a un hombre. Ni la cárcel lo que le deshace.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Le recuerdo sentado tras su mesa de la biblioteca repasando pacientemente el contrato de préstamo párrafo por párrafo con un carcelero que quería comprar un automóvil DeSoto usado, explicándole al tipo con todo detalle los pros y los contras del contrato, explicándole que era posible comprar a crédito sin que te clavaran demasiado, sacándole de las sociedades financieras que, en aquellos tiempos, eran poco mejores que usureros. Cuando terminó, el carcelero hizo ademán de tenderle la mano... y en seguida la retiró. Por un momento, había olvidado que estaba tratando con una mascota y no con un hombre.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

“Hay otros como yo, otros que recuerdan a Andy. Estamos contentísimos de que se escapara, aunque también un poco tristes. Algunos pájaros no están destinados a que los enjaulen, eso es todo. Tienen las plumas demasiado brillantes, su canto es demasiado dulce y libre. Así que, o les dejas irse, o, cuando abres la jaula para darles de comer, se las arreglan para escapar volando. Y la parte de ti que en el fondo creía que era un error tenerlos cautivos se alboroza, pese al hecho de que el lugar en que vives sea mucho más lóbrego y triste tras su partida.”
― Stephen King, quote from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

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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.

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