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
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Popular quotes

“След две седмици Меме беше отворила дюкянчето си и дори си имаше шевна машина. Беше купила нова Domestic с парите, които той натрупа у дома. За мене това беше оскърбление. Така и казах на баща ти. Но макар и да не реагираше на възмущението ми, личеше, че е по-скоро доволен от постъпката си, отколкото разкаян, сякаш беше спасил душата си, противопоставяйки на благоприличието и честта на нашия дом пословичната си търпимост, своето разбиране и великодушие. И дори известно неблагоразумие. Казах му: «Ти хвърли на свинете най-хубавото от убежденията си.» А той, както винаги, ми отвърна:

— И това ще проумееш някой ден.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, quote from Leaf Storm and Other Stories


“Mother,” said Ramona urgently. This time she stepped into the hall. “Unless we get a ladder (Go back to your room, Ramona) and break the window so we can unlock it,” Mother continued, speaking with one sentence inside another, the way grown-ups so often did with Ramona around. “But Mother,” insisted Ramona even more urgently. “I have to—” “Oh, dear, I might have known,” sighed Mother.”
― Beverly Cleary, quote from Beezus and Ramona


“Let the word in and sooner or later people will see the oceans pouring out of you. You'll walk down the street and someone will mistake you for the sky. You are beautiful because you let yourself feel, and that is a brave thing indeed.”
― Shinji Moon, quote from The Anatomy of Being


“What kind of picnic did you have in mind”
― Meredith Wild, quote from Hardpressed


“I myself have read the writings and teachings of the heretics, polluting my soul for a while with their abominable notions, though deriving this benefit: I was able to refute them for myself and loathe them even more.”
― Paul L. Maier, quote from Eusebius: The Church History


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