← Fiction

The Girls of Slender Means

by Muriel Spark · 1963

Like the May of Teck Club itself—"three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit"—its lady inhabitants do their best to act as if the world were back to normal: practicing elocution, and jostling over suitors… more

7 quotes ★ 3.65 (8,679) Fiction

Quotes from the Book

it never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.
42
- 'Poise is perfect balance, an equanimity of body and mind, complete composure whatever the social scene. Elegant dress, immaculate grooming, and perfect deportment all contribute to the attainment of self-confidence.' -
10
You don't know what it's like trying to eat enough to live on and at the same time avoid fats and carbohydrates.
6
after thirty years' hostile fellowship with Collie, of course she did quite well understand that collie had a habit of skipping several stages in the logical sequence of her thoughts and would utter apparently disconnected statements, especially when confused by unfamiliar subject or the presence of a man
4
It was not the first instance of a man taking a girl to bed with the aim of converting her soul, but he, in great exasperation, felt that it was, and poignantly, in bed, willed and willed the awakening of her social conscience.
1
El gigantesco murmullo orgánico de la multitud, en nada semejante a la voz de un ser animado, sino más bien como una catarata o una alteración geológica, se propagaba por los parques y el Mall. Solo los hombres de las ambulancias Saint John, firmes ante sus camiones, conservaban su identidad. Los miembros de la familia real alzaron el brazo una vez más, hicieron un amago de marcharse, remolonearon y volvieron a saludar, desapareciendo definitivamente. Brazos desconocidos rodeaban cuerpos desconocidos. Muchos amoríos, algunos duraderos, surgieron esa noche; y numerosos bebés de la variedad experimental, deliciosos en su tono de piel y estructura racial, vinieron al mundo al cumplirse su correspondiente ciclo de nueve meses.
1
—Oye, Jane, deberías cobrarles la cantidad de tiempo libre que le dedicas a ese trabajo. —El mundo de los libros es ante todo altruista —decía Jane. Siempre se refería al negocio de la edición como "el mundo de los libros". Solía andar mal de dinero, así que por querer ahorrar unos chelines para el contador de gas de la calefacción, no podía, según ella, ponerse a dieta en invierno, justo cuando había que mantener la habitación caliente además de alimentar el cerebro.
1

About Muriel Spark

We have collected 60 quotes from 5 books by Muriel Spark on BookQuoters.

More about the author →

About the book

Like the May of Teck Club itself—"three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit"—its lady inhabitants do their best to act as if the world were back to normal: practicing elocution, and jostling over suitors and a single Schiaparelli gown. The novel's harrowing ending reveals that the girls' giddy literary and amorous peregrinations are hiding some tragically painful war wounds.

Chosen by Anthony Burgess as one of the Best Modern Novels in the Sunday Times of London, The Girls of Slender Means is a taut and eerily perfect novel by an author The New York Times has called "one of this century's finest creators of comic-metaphysical entertainment."

Book details

First published
1963
Genre
Fiction
Goodreads rating
3.65 (9k ratings)

Keep reading