Quotes from The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro ·  317 pages

Rating: (47.4K votes)


“But then again I wonder if what we feel in our hearts today isn't like these raindrops still falling on us from the soaked leaves above, even though the sky itself long stopped raining. I'm wondering if without our memories, there's nothing for it but for our love to fade and die.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“When it was too late for rescue, it was still early enough for revenge.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“But God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Yet are you so certain, good mistress, you wish to be free of this mist? Is it not better some things remain hidden from our minds?"
"It may be for some, father, but not for us. Axl and I wish to have again the happy moments we shared together. To be robbed of them is as if a thief came in the night and took what's most precious from us."
"Yet the mist covers all memories, the bad as well as the good. Isn't that so, mistress?"
"We'll have the bad ones come back too, even if they make us weep or shake with anger. For isn't it the life we've shared?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Who knows what will come when quick-tongued men make ancient grievances rhyme with fresh desire for land and conquest?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



“How can old wounds heal while maggots linger so richly?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“A couple may claim to be bonded by love, but we boatmen may see instead resentment, anger, even hatred. Or a great barrenness. Sometimes a fear of loneliness and nothing more.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“How is it possible to hate so deeply for deeds not yet done?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Are you still there, Axl?”
“Still here, princess.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“What use is a god with boundless mercy, sir? You mock me as a pagan, yet the gods of my ancestors pronounce clearly their ways and punish severely when we break their laws. Your Christian god of mercy gives men licence to pursue their greed, their lust for land and blood, knowing a few prayers and a little penance will bring forgiveness and blessing.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



“The giant, once well buried, now stirs. When soon he rises, as surely he will, the friendly bonds between us will prove as knots young girls make with the stems of small flowers.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“The danger isn't the river's speed, friend, but its slowness.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Boatman, I’ve spoken honestly to you, and I hope it doesn’t cast your earlier judgement of us in doubt. For I suppose there’s some would hear my words and think our love flawed and broken. But God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Abiding love that has endured the years—that we see only rarely. When we do, we’re only too glad to ferry the couple together.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Foolishness, sir. How can old wounds heal while maggots linger so richly? Or a peace hold for ever built on slaughter and a magician’s trickery?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



“When the hour’s too late for rescue, it’s still early enough for revenge.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Then he took the sword in both hands and raised it—and Gawain’s posture took on an unmistakable grandeur.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“What kind of god is it, sir, wishes wrong to go forgotten and unpunished?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“The stranger thought it might be God himself had forgotten much from our pasts, events far distant, events of the same day. And if a thing is not in God’s mind, then what chance of it remaining in those of mortal men?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“خدایی که بخشایش بی‌حدواندازه دارد، چه فایده دارد آقا؟ خدایان اجداد من قواعد و شیوه‌های خودشان را به‌وضوح اعلام می‌کنند و وقتی ما قوانینشان را نقض می‌کنیم، به‌شدت مارا مجازات می‌کنند. خدای شما به انسان‌ها اجازه طمع ورزیدن، شهوت تصرف زمین و ریختن خون را می‌دهد، با این تصور که باکمی دعا همه گناهانشان بخشیده می‌شود و آمرزیده می‌شوند.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



“Yet are you so certain, good mistress, you wish to be free of this mist? Is it not better some things remain hidden from our minds?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Be merciful and leave this place. Leave this country to rest in forgetfulness.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Some of you will have fine monuments by which the living may remember the evil done to you. Some of you will have only crude wooden crosses or painted rocks, while yet others of you must remain hidden in the shadows of history.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“The giant, once well buried, now stirs. When soon he rises,”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“when travellers speak of their most cherished memories, it’s impossible for them to disguise the truth. A couple may claim to be bonded by love, but we boatmen may see instead resentment, anger, even hatred. Or a great barrenness. Sometimes a fear of loneliness and nothing more. Abiding love that has endured the years – that we see only rarely.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



“nothing and yet everything had passed between us.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“This country awakens so many memories, though each seems like some restless sparrow I know will flee any moment into the breeze.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Perhaps God’s so deeply ashamed of us, of something we did, that he’s wishing himself to forget.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“Where once we fought for land and God, we now fought to avenge fallen comrades, themselves slaughtered in vengeance. Where could it end? Babes growing to men knowing only days of war.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant


“It would be the saddest thing to me, princess. To walk separately from you, when the ground will let us go as we always did.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant



Video

About the author

Kazuo Ishiguro
Born place: in Nagasaki, Japan
Born date November 8, 1954
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“There is no evidence that we've been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal. And in fact our unhappiness and our strangeness, our anxieties and compulsions, those least fashionable aspects of our personalities, are quite often what lead us to do rather interesting things.”
― Jon Ronson, quote from The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry


“Maybe all there is is just the next thing maybe all there is is just the next thing maybe all there is is just just the next just the next thing maybe all there is is just the next maybe all there is is is just is just the next thing Roslyn's words stuck in her head & she could not stop repeating them Maybe all there is is just the next thing like a Hindu mantra & she was a yogin murmuring her secret prayer Maybe all there is just the next thing

She thought, That's a comfort!”
― Joyce Carol Oates, quote from Blonde


“One of the foundations of truth in the universe is that courage is required of any truly great species, and not just any courage. A lust for death and a willingness to die does not constitute courage. Courage is when you are willing to sacrifice your short-term desires for a greater purpose. Courage is when you are willing to live and endure suffering to achieve a greater end.”
― Roy Huff, quote from The First Pillar


“I really do think it all boiled down to fear. She was so worried about what the people around us would think, she forgot about … me.”
― Julie Kibler, quote from Calling Me Home


“【加拿大毕业证书】SFU毕业证书【Q\微744043126】办理西蒙弗雷泽大学毕业证书SFU学位证书成绩单Simon Fraser UniversityQ/微744043126办理UT/York/UO/UWO/UA/SFU等大学毕业证成绩单教育部使馆认证永久可查,英华教育留学服务中心:实体公司,注册经营,行业标杆,精益求精!

一:毕业证、成绩单等全套材料,从防伪到印刷,水印底纹到钢印烫金,
二:真实使馆认证(留学人员回国证明),使馆存档
三:真实教育部认证,教育部存档,教育部留服网站永久可查
四:留信认证,留学生信息网站永久可查
联系人:Mark QQ:744043126 微信:744043126

一:回国证明的用途:
《留学回国人员证明》是留学人员在国内证明留学身份、联系工作、创办企业、落转户口、申请国内各类基金等必备的材料。留学人员持有此证明还可以享受购买国产汽车免税等多项优惠政策。
二:教育部认证的用途:
如果您计划在国内发展,那么办理国内教育部认证是必不可少的。事业性用人单位如银行,国企,公务员,在您应聘时都会需要您提供这个认证。其他私营、外企企业,无需提供!办理教育部认证所需资料众多且烦琐,所有材料您都必须提供原件,我们凭借丰富的经验,帮您快速整合材料,让您少走弯路。

特别关注:【业务选择办理准则】
一、工作未确定,回国需先给父母、亲戚朋友看下文凭的情况
办理一份就读学校的毕业证成绩单即可

二、回国进私企、外企、自己做生意的情况
这些单位是不查询毕业证真伪的,而且国内没有渠道去查询国外文凭的真假,也不需要提供真实教育部认证。鉴于此,办理一份毕业证成绩单即可

三、回国进国企、银行等事业性单位或者考公务员的情况
办理一份毕业证成绩单,递交材料到教育部,办理真实教育部认证

诚招代理:本公司诚聘当地合作代理人员,如果你有业余时间,有兴趣就请联系我们。
敬告:面对网上有些不良个人中介,真实教育部认证故意虚假报价,毕业证、成绩单却报价很高,挖坑骗留学学生做和原版差异很大的毕业证和成绩单,却不做认证,欺骗广大留学生,请多留心!办理时请电话联系,或者视频看下对方的办公环境,办理实力,选择实体公司,以防被骗!

【加拿大毕业证书】SFU毕业证书【Q\微744043126】办理西蒙弗雷泽大学毕业证书SFU学位证书成绩单Simon Fraser University”
― John Grisham, quote from The Street Lawyer


Interesting books

The Rum Diary
(45.4K)
The Rum Diary
by Hunter S. Thompson
Hunger
(68.5K)
Hunger
by Michael Grant
The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
(13.9K)
The Gulag Archipelag...
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
World After
(74.7K)
World After
by Susan Ee
The Battle for Skandia
(70.1K)
The Battle for Skand...
by John Flanagan
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
(463.7K)
Wild: From Lost to F...
by Cheryl Strayed

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.