“All great adventures have moments that are really crap.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Look, when do the really interesting things happen? Not when you've brushed your teeth and put on your pyjamas and are cozy in bed. They happen when you are cold and uncomfortable and hungry and don't have a roof over your head for the night.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“It's alarming how quickly people adjust to adventures when they are in one. You really have to work at being astonished by life.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Memory, in my opinion, is a complete noodle. It hangs on the silliest things but forgets the stuff that really matters.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“People should have all their big adventures while they're still under the age of fourteen. If you don't, you start to lose your passion for big adventures. It just begins to fade away bit by bit and then you forget you ever wanted adventures in the first place.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“They [the Hardscrabbles]never enjoyed it when adults playfully lied to them. The adults always think they're being amusing and imaginative, just like children. But kids never lie playfully. They lie as if their lives depended on it.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“It was the right and responsible thing to do, so they put it off until later.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Rubbish," Max said. "Anyone can put on clumpy boots and pierce themselves silly. A truly dangerous person would be someone you'd never even look at twice.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Then she probably would have waved back," Max said. "And it might be a he."
"Ha! Not likely," Lucia said. "Didn't you notice them?"
"Them what?" Max asked.
"Her... you know. She has breasts, Max! What do you think that is on her chest?"
"I think it's a pair of crossed arms," Max said.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Give that man a Pixy Stix," Haddie said.
"A what?" Lucia asked.
"Hold on." She left then returned a moment later with a handful of colorful straws, one of which she threw at Max like a dart. He caught it in midair. That impressed Haddie and she tossed him another, just to see if he could do it again. He fumbled that one.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
“Then Lucia said, "So what do we do now?"
"Nothing," Otto said. "Things will go on as just they always have.”
― Ellen Potter, quote from The Kneebone Boy
Ellen Potter
Born place: New York City, The United States
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“Ah, Robert?”
“Shhhh, not while I’m praying,” he said, momentarily losing his place before he started again, “thank you for letting us survive that trip from hell. Thank you for ignoring my prayers for a quick death when I didn’t think that I’d be able to survive another day of starvation,” he said, making her roll her eyes in annoyance.
“You were given three full meals a day just like everyone else,” she pointed out, not bothering to mention the fact that, on most days, he’d received second helpings. She sat down on a bench near their luggage, wondering just how much longer he was going to keep this up.
“I’m sorry for all the cursing that my wife forced me to do while I was on that boat,” he continued, ignoring her even as he amused her. “As you know, she’s been such a bad influence on me. Thank you for pulling me from near death and somehow giving me the strength to survive.”
“Near death?” she asked, frowning. “When were you near death?”
“When was I near death?” he asked in stunned disbelief as he opened his eyes so that he could glare at her.
“How could you forget all those times that I could barely move? When I struggled to find the will to live so that I wouldn’t leave you a young widow? Did my struggle for survival mean nothing to you?” he demanded in outrage, terrifying the people that were forced to walk past him to get to the docks and making her wrack her brain as she struggled to figure out what he was talking about.
“Do you mean those few times when you had a touch of seasickness?” she asked, unable to think of anything else that he could be talking about since he’d been the picture of health during the majority of the trip.
“A touch?” he repeated in disbelief. “I nearly died!”
― R.L. Mathewson, quote from Truce
“Earlier maps had underestimated the distances to other continents and exaggerated the outlines of individual nations. Now global dimensions could be set, with authority, by the celestial spheres. Indeed, King Louis XIV of France, confronted with a revised map of his domain based on accurate longitude measurements, reportedly complained that he was losing more territory to his astronomers than to his enemies.”
― Dava Sobel, quote from Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
“The sword was not the kingdom, he says.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
“Almost all voyages, from that of Noah’s Ark to the sending of the ships to Troy, have been marked by interminable delays, with false starts and turning wind and tide; perhaps the schooner Ringle was too slim and slight to count as a worthy adversary, because she gently sailed her anchor out of the ground and then bore away a little east of north with a wind that allowed her to spread every sail she possessed, other than those reserved for foul or very foul weather.”
― Patrick O'Brian, quote from Blue at the Mizzen
“Everyone comes here for pleasure. Even if they think they don't. Embracing it is harder for some and they go mad before they truly accept it. Most of the places they cme from are founded on guilt and rules. The Ripers want us to break away from that - some wish to tear it from us while others are more subtle.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
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