Quotes from The Incarnations

Susan Barker ·  371 pages

Rating: (4K votes)


“No matter how dilapidated, scarred and mutilated your body, I have always found you beautiful, for it is the soul beneath I seek.”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


“In the end, how much distance lies between the truth and what we believe to be true? Between the things we feel at one time and the things we end up doing?”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


“I would have fallen down long ago and let the ground drink the blood of my slit throat, were it not for you. So long as you are by my side, I can endure. You ease the stoned-to-death feeling in my soul.”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


“Why does she hate me so much?” I ask. I expect you to say it’s because Long March is a staunch Communist and vigilant with class enemies. But instead you say, “Long March is an unhappy person. People who are unhappy often hurt others.” I consider this, and then say dismally, “But I am unhappy. I don’t go around bullying people.” “That’s because you haven’t had the chance.” Then you are gone. Pedalling up Vinegar Makers Alley to catch up with your friends, leaving me with the pale wisps of your strange remark lingering in the freezing air. *”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


“I clench my fist around your stiffness, and your breathing quickens as I draw it back and forth. After your warm, sticky release, I lick my hand clean. Then I bury my face in your wild, stinking hair and hold you. To hold you is to be at one with you. To be at one with the starry cosmos of ancient gods above. As I hold you I will the night never to end. For our oneness fades with the disappearing stars. And by daylight you are other again.”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations



“A news bulletin on the radio speaks of a public ban on spitting, swearing, smoking and queue-jumping during the Olympics. The Four Pests, the campaign has been called, after the Mao-era policy to eradicate sparrows, mosquitoes, flies and rats. Wang remembers Shuxiang telling him how, during her childhood, gangs of children chased sparrows from tree to tree, banging tin trays until the birds fell out of the sky, too exhausted to beat their wings and fly.”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


“What's the good of one person clinging to his morals when everyone else is so corrupt? What's the good of that?”
― Susan Barker, quote from The Incarnations


About the author

Susan Barker
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I wondered if it was possible to take someone's pain away with a kiss. Because that was what i wanted to do, take all of his sadness and pour it out of him, comfort him, make the boy i knew come back.”
― Jenny Han, quote from The Summer I Turned Pretty


“But life is just as much pain and mess as it is joy and order. Probably a lot more mess than order, too.”
― Robert R. McCammon, quote from Boy's Life


“I don't pretend to see the path, but I know it's there all the same. One day, we'll look back and wonder how we ever missed it.”
― Peter V. Brett, quote from The Warded Man


“انكم لا تستطيعون ان تتخيلوا مدة الألم والحنق اللذين يغزوان نفوسكم حين تعبرون عن فكرة عظيمة قدستموها طوال حياتكم، فأذا بأفراد جهلة يجرونها على أرض الشارع وسط أناس لا يقلون عنهم غباء وحماقة، ثم أذا انتم فجأة ترونها في السوق وقد تغيرت سحنتها حتى لا تكاد تعرف، وتمرغت في الوحل وتشوهت وتكسرت، وتغيرت أبعادها وفقدت انسجامها، كلعبة بين ايدي اطفال.....لا! لم يكن الأمر كذلك في عهدنا، ولا الى هذا صبونا. لقد أصبحت أنكر كل شي ولا أعرف شيئا. يجب أن يعود زماننا فيرد الى الطريق القويم كل ما يترنح اليوم ويهتز، والا فما عسى يحدث؟”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from Demons


“You have made a place in my heart where I thought there was no room for anything else. You have made flowers grow where I cultivated dust and stones. Remember this, on this journey you insist on making. If you die, I will not survive you long.”
― Robert Jordan, quote from The Shadow Rising


Interesting books

Raging Star
(7.3K)
Raging Star
by Moira Young
Tempted
(8.2K)
Tempted
by Megan Hart
The Keatyn Chronicles: Books 1-3
(1K)
The Keatyn Chronicle...
by Jillian Dodd
Marked
(3.9K)
Marked
by Rebecca Zanetti
We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
(755)
We Real Cool: Black...
by bell hooks
Something Strange and Deadly
(12.3K)
Something Strange an...
by Susan Dennard

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.