“And if we know how to light a fire, why do we carry tinder around with us?"
Because you're humans," the little one explained serenly. "You're stupid.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“You don't just choose a name at random. A name is a name. A major responsibility.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Quando uno ha troppa tristezza, la magia ci annega dentro, come le persone dentro l'acqua. Però nonna sapeva come si fa. Se pensi forte le cose, loro diventano vere. Ma, se dentro hai la tristezza, tutto quello che ti esce dalla testa è la tristezza.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Quando tutto ti fa paura, hai bisogno di un sogno ancora più che di qualcosa da mangiare.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“The Human was extremely tall. On its head it had yellowish hair coiled like a rope. It had no hair on its face. And yet his grandmother had been very categorical about that. Humans have hair on their faces. Its called a beard. Its one of the many things that distinguish them from elves. The little elf concentrated, trying to remember, then it came to him.
"You must be a female man," he concluded triumphantly.
"The word is woman, fool," said the human.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, woman-fool, I be more careful, I call right name, woman-fool"....”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“In human language, selling a smoking pot for three gold pieces is called a 'swindle,'" the man said, narrowly escaping a kick in the shins.
"In Elfish language it's called 'genius,'" the little elf replied cheerfully...”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Il piccolo elfo ebbe l'impressione di essere diventato meno orfano. Era una sensazione curiosa. Come se la solitudine fosse un muro di vetro che per la prima volta mostrava incrinature e crepe.
Era l'ultimo di una stirpe distrutta, ma dal passato gli arrivava un po' dell'affetto che il presente gli negava.
Le sue dita passavano e ripassavano sugli oggetti: erano stati fatti per lui; gli erano stati lasciati. Qualcuno gli aveva voluto bene mentre li faceva, mentre glieli lasciava.
Sperò che Morte fosse un posto da dove il suo papà potesse vederlo.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Lei era Rosalba, la luce con cui rinasce tutti i giorni la speranza di un giorno buono.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“L'importante non sono le cose, ma il senso che noi diamo alle cose. Prima o poi la morte attende tutti. Più importante del rimandare la morte è darle un senso.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Era lui l'ultimo elfo. [...] Il più grande, il più potente e l'ultimo, quello dopo cui non ci sarà nessun altro.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Per qualche motivo, tutto sommato, lo avrebbe di nuovo voluto neonato. Squittente e catastrofico, e che lo guardasse con occhi adoranti.
Adesso non squittiva e non bruciava, ma come adorazione era senz'altro sullo scarso.”
― Silvana de Mari, quote from The Last Dragon
“Early in 1955 Flannery completed work on her second book, a collection of these stories which she entitled A Good Man Is Hard to Find. In January we sent it to press, having set publication for June. I remember our amusement at Evelyn Waugh’s reaction to the advance proofs we sent him: “If these stories are in fact the work of a young lady, they are indeed remarkable.”
― Flannery O'Connor, quote from The Complete Stories
“Let me begin with a caveat to any and all who find these pages. Do not trust large bodies of water, and do not cross them. If you, dear reader, have an African hue and find yourself led toward water with vanishing shores, seize your freedom by any means necessary. And cultivate distrust of the colour pink. Pink is taken as the colour of innocence, the colour of childhood, but as it spills across the water in the light of the dying sun, do not fall into its pretty path. There, right underneath, lies a bottomless graveyard of children, mothers and men. I shudder to imagine all the Africans rocking in the deep. Every time I have sailed the seas, I have had the sense of gliding over the unburied.
Some people call the sunset a creation of extraordinary beauty, and proof of God's existence. But what benevolent force would bewitch the human spirit by choosing pink to light the path of a slave vessel? Do not be fooled by the pretty colour, and do not submit to its beckoning.”
― Lawrence Hill, quote from The Book of Negroes
“Escape plan number seventeen," I told her. "Run away and open a juice stand in Fresno."
"Why Fresno?"
"Sounds like the kind of place people drink a lot of juice.”
― Richelle Mead, quote from The Fiery Heart
“There is no past. Past is present when you carry it with you.”
― quote from Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities
“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.”
― Eckhart Tolle, quote from The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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