“Once you let people know anything about what you think, that's it, you're dead. Then they'll be jumping about in your mind, taking things out, holding them up to the light and killing them, yes, killing them, because thoughts are supposed to stay and grow in quiet, dark places, like butterflies in cocoons.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Two hungry people should never make friends. If they do, they eat each other up. It is the same with one person who is hungry and another who is full: they cannot be real, real friends because the hungry one will eat the full one. You understand?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Would that be dangerous, to not look while being looked at?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Finally, he smiled, and although his smile was bumpy because some of his teeth were jagged and broken, it was a warming, infectious smile that was reflected in his eyes. It made her smile widely in return. She felt as if the room had been lit up. He held out his arms, and she went across the room to him, almost running. She buried her face in his shirt, her nose wrinkling up as the scent of his cologne mixed with the nutty, sourish smell of camphor that filled the room. He put his arms around her, but gently, so that there was space between his forearms and her back, holding her as if she was to fragile to hug properly. Awkwardly, he patted her light, bushy aureole of dark brown hair, repeating: "Good girl. Fine daughter.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“She had a new bracelet on, stacked with emeralds brighter than her eyes. I hate rich people.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“But Jess was sliding breathlessly down into the waiting sky, so she couldn't find the words to tell TillyTilly that sisters was something about being held without hands, and the skin-flinch of seeing and simultaneously being seen.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Didn’t she know that knowing why doesn’t make things any less scary?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“What’s the matter, Jess? Why are you sad?’ And she’d have to explain that she wasn’t sad, just tired, though how she could be so tired in the middle of the day with the sun shining and everything, she didn’t know. It made her feel ashamed.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Once you let people know anything about what you think, that’s it, you’re dead. Then they’ll be jumping about in your mind, taking things out, holding them up to the light and killing them, yes, killing them, because thoughts are supposed to stay and grow in quiet, dark places, like butterflies in cocoons.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
Helen Oyeyemi
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“Something from out in the dark brushed her throat, damp
fingers smearing her with warm wetness. She started, raising a hand against it, but touched nothing.
A teasing whisper in her ear – no, more a thought. Come to me …
She glanced around to see if anyone else had heard, but those near her gazed eagerly ahead. Except the Riper; he watched her.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“I read somewhere; while God still existed one sustained a dialogue with God, and now that He no longer exists one has to sustain a dialogue with other people, I guess, or, better still, with oneself, that is to say, one talks or mumbles to oneself.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Kaddish for an Unborn Child
“Becoming a vegan is not about self-denial; it’s more a matter of self-awareness. It is about trying new foods and broadening your palate, expressing the joy of being alive, and knowing that you’re making a daily effort to live less violently and more sustainably.”
― Gene Baur, quote from Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food
“People don’t change just because you know more about them.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from The Fourth Bear
“You can lose a lot when you travel too much.”
― Gloria Naylor, quote from Linden Hills
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ShadowlandBookQuoters 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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