Gustav Meyrink · 528 pages
Rating: (440 votes)
“Nothing essential happens through death, only through birth and that is the whole trouble - But shouldn't we be speaking of something more important than life and death?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Una volta ho letto, non ricordo più dove, che agli oggetti antichi può legarsi una maledizione, uno scongiuro, un incantesimo, i quali poi vanno a colpire chi si mette in casa e custodisce simili chincaglierie. Sai forse che cosa inneschi, quando richiami con un fischio un cane randagio che ti viene incontro durante una passeggiata serale? Per compassione lo porti al caldo, nella tua stanza, ed ecco che, all'improvviso, dal suo pelo nero fa capolino il diavolo.
Io, pronipote di John Dee, sto forse vivendo ciò che accadde un tempo al dottor Faust?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Мы, люди, не знаем, кто мы есть. Самих себя мы привыкли воспринимать в определенной «упаковке», той, которая ежедневно смотрит на нас из зеркала и которую нам угодно называть своим Я. О, нас нисколько не беспокоит то, что нам знакома лишь обёртка пакета со стандартными надписями: отправитель — родители, адресат — могила; бандероль из неизвестности в неизвестность, снабженная различными почтовыми штемпелями — «ценная» или… ну, это уж как решит наше тщеславие.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Проклятый страх! С каждым днем его хватка всё крепче. Воистину, будь человек абсолютно свободен от страха — и прежде всего от внутреннего, который изначально таится в нем, — думаю, он бы действительно стал венцом творения и сама преисподняя подчинилась ему.”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Все мы рабы своих мыслей, но никак не творцы их!”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Posso dire soltanto che vi sono enti così spaventosi che il solo vederli basta a raggelare il sangue. Ma chi mi comprenderà se ora affermo che ben più terrificante è la loro invisibile vicinanza?”
― Gustav Meyrink, quote from The Angel of the West Window
“Passersby looked at us curiously. In the porch, Mr. Whitman held the church door open for us. “Hurry up, please,” he said. “We don’t want to attract attention.” No, sure, there was nothing likely to attract attention in two black limousines parking in North Audley Street in broad daylight so that men in suits could carry the Lost Ark out of the trunk of one of the cars, over the sidewalk, and into the church. Although from a distance the chest carrying it could have been a small coffin . . . The thought gave me goose bumps.
“I hope at least you remembered your pistol,” I whispered to Gideon.
“You have a funny idea of what goes on at a soiree,” he said, in a normal tone of voice, arranging the scarf around my shoulders. “Did anyone check what’s in your bag? We don’t want your mobile ringing in the middle of a musical performance.”
I couldn’t keep from laughing at the idea, because just then my ringtone was a croaking frog. “There won’t be anyone there who could call me except you,” I pointed out.
“And I don’t even know your number. Please may I take a look inside your bag?”
“It’s called a reticule,” I said, shrugging and handing him the little bag.
“Smelling salts, handkerchief, perfume, powder . . . excellent,” said Gideon. “All just as it should be. Come along.” He gave me the reticule back, took my hand, and led me through the church porch. Mr. Whitman bolted the door again behind us. Gideon forgot to let go of my hand once we were inside the church, which was just as well, because otherwise I’d have panicked at the last moment and run away.”
― Kerstin Gier, quote from Sapphire Blue
“Indeed, grief is not the clear melancholy the young believe it. It is like a siege in a tropical city. The skin dries and the throat parches as though one were living in the heat of the desert; water and wine taste warm in the mouth, and food is of the substance of the sand; one snarls at one's company; thoughts prick one through sleep like mosquitoes.”
― Rebecca West, quote from The Return of The Soldier
“It's a little-known fact that innocent people always look guilty.”
― Mary Elizabeth Summer, quote from Trust Me, I'm Lying
“A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships”
― Jorge Luis Borges, quote from Fictions
“The real issues are whether the power of Western Civilization, as God has permitted it to flower in our own beloved lands, shall defy and defeat Communism; whether the rule of men who shoot their prisoners, enslave their citizens, and deride the dignity of man, shall displace the rule of those to whom the individual and his individual rights are sacred; whether we are to survive with God’s hand to guide and lead us, or to perish in the dead existence of a Godless world.”
― T.R. Fehrenbach, quote from This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness
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