Quotes from River God

Wilbur Smith ·  664 pages

Rating: (28.8K votes)


“I was sitting in the Temple of Karnak on the Nile, as the sun was going down, and I was all alone, and the great Hypostyle Hall was full of shadows and ghosts of the past, and suddenly I heard this little voice saying "my name is Taita, write my story"… and if you believe that you'll believe anything.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“Yet such is the perversity of human nature that I hungered for what I could never have and dreamed of the impossible.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“when it comes to fashion, even the most sensible woman is not to be trusted.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“Out of the chaos and darkness of Nun rose Ammon-Ra, He-Who-Creates-Himself. I watched Ammon-Ra stroke his generative member, masturbating and spurting out his seminal seed in mighty waves that left the silver smear that we know as the Milky Way across the dark void. From this seed were generated Geb and Nut, the earth and the heaven.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“As they slithered up the muddy bank, scores of tiny silver fish that had been feasting on the open wounds were slow to relinquish their hold and were drawn out with the carcasses. Stranded upon the mud-banks, they flopped and quivered like stars that had fallen to earth.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God



“Sometimes you are garrulous, Taita.’ Pharaoh was less than captivated by my lecture on the palace architecture. ‘Get on”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“Taita,’ she called to me, ‘sing with me!’ And when I obeyed she smiled with pleasure. My voice was one of the many reasons that, whenever she was able, she kept me near her; my tenor complemented her lovely soprano to perfection. We sang one of the old peasant love songs that I had taught her, and which was still one of her favourites: My heart flutters up like a wounded quail when I see my beloved’s face and my cheeks bloom like the dawn sky to the sunshine of his smile”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“chariots that I would design with”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“The fact that I had been on the point of making a similar heroic gesture was quite ignored, and this only increased my irritation.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


“She is the epitome of injustice, is my mistress. I never sulk, I am no glutton, and at that time I was barely thirty years of age, although to a fourteen-year-old anyone above twenty is an ancient, and I admit that, when it comes to food, I do have the refined tastes of a connoisseur.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God



“Nevertheless, I had recommended a diet of bull’s testicles fried in honey and counselled him to find the most beautiful virgin in Egypt and take her to his marriage-bed within a year of the first flowering of her woman’s moon.”
― Wilbur Smith, quote from River God


About the author

Wilbur Smith
Born place: in Kabwe, Zambia
Born date January 9, 1933
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“Everything is about to go to hell very quickly, so I want one moment where we don't talk about that. We pretend it doesn't exist. I want one last quiet moment with you."
"No, Loki." I shook my head, but I didn't pull away. "I told you that one night wasn't enough."
Loki leaned down, kissing me deeply and pressing me to him. I didn't even attempt to resist. I wrapped my arms around his neck. It wasn't the way we had kissed before, not as hungry or fevered. This was something different, nicer.
We were holding on to each other, knowing this might be the last time we could. It felt sweet and hopeful and tragic all at once.
When he stopped kissing me he rested his forehead against mine. He breathed as if struggling to catch his breath. I reached up and touched his face, his skin smooth and cool beneath my hand.
Loki lifted his head so he could look me in the eyes, and I saw something in them, something I'd never seen before. Something pure and unadulterated, and my heart seemed to grow with the warmth of my love for him.
I don't know how it happened or when it had, but I knew it with complete certainty. I had fallen in love with Loki, more intensely than anything I had felt for anyone before.
"Wendy!" Finn shouted, pulling me from my moment with Loki. "What are you doing? You're married! And not to him!"
"Nothing slips by you, does it?" Loki asked.
"Finn," I said, and stepped away from Loki. "Calm down."
"No!" Finn yelled. "I will not calm down! What were you thinking? We're about to go to war, and you're cheating on your husband?"
"Everything's not exactly the way it seems," I said, but guilt and regret were gripping my stomach.
My marriage might be over, but I was still technically wed to another man. And I should be worrying about things more important than kissing Loki.
"It seemed like you had your tongue down his throat." Finn glared at us both.
"Well, then, everything is exactly as it seems," Loki said glibly.”
― Amanda Hocking, quote from Ascend


“I'll never be like this again . . . I'll never again feel as tall as the sky and as old as the hills and as strong as the sea. I've been given something for a while, and the price of it is that I have to give it back.

And the reward is giving it back, too. No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and see it all as it really is...no one could stand that for long.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Wee Free Men


“Um i'm happy to sit close to you and everything, but i had no idea you would like it so much,' Paris muttered.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Night


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