“Like many young men in the South, he had trouble ruling out the possible. They are not like an immigrant's son in Passaic who desires to become a dentist and that is that. Southerners have trouble ruling out the possible. What happens to a... man to whom all things seem possible and every course of action open? Nothing of course.”
― Walker Percy, quote from The Last Gentleman
“Christ should leave us. He is too much with us and I don’t like his friends. We have no hope of recovering Christ until Christ leaves us. There is after all something worse than being God-forsaken. It is when God overstays his welcome and takes up with the wrong people.”
― Walker Percy, quote from The Last Gentleman
“But if there's nothing wrong with me, he thought, then there is something wrong with the world. And if there is nothing wrong with the world, then I have wasted my life and that is the worst mistake of all.”
― Walker Percy, quote from The Last Gentleman
“The happiness of the South was very formidable. It was an almost invincible happiness. It defied you to call it anything else. Everyone was in fact happy. The women were beautiful and charming. The men were healthy and successful and funny; they knew how to tell stories. They had everything the North had and more. They had a history, they had a place redolent with memories, they had good conversation, they believed in God and defended the Constitution, and they were getting rich in the bargain. They had the best of victory and defeat. Their happiness was aggressive and irresistible.”
― Walker Percy, quote from The Last Gentleman
“For example, she did not mind at all if Christendom should be done for, stove in, kaput, screwed up once and all. She did not mind that the Christers were like everybody else, if not worse.”
― Walker Percy, quote from The Last Gentleman
“After awhile you could get used to anything.”
― Albert Camus, quote from The Outsider
“Five thousand dollars? For a kiss?”
“That’s what I said.”
“With tongue?”
“It’s not really a kiss without it.
Just say yes, pet. You obviously need the money.”
I gasp before I can stop myself. I didn’t think five words from a stranger could hurt so much. What a dick.
“For fuck’s sake, Nicholas,” Simon says.
But he just looks at me, waiting, those arrogant green eyes alight with anticipation. So I give him what he’s waiting for.
“Hands under the table,” I order.
He smiles wider, puts his flask in his pocket, and does what he’s told.
“Close your eyes.”
“I like a woman who’s not afraid to take charge.”
“No more talking.” He’s said more than enough.
I lean in, keeping my eyes open the whole time, memorizing every angle of that face, feeling his warm breath against my cheek. This close, I can see the shadow of stubble on his chin and for just a second, I let myself wonder what it would feel like scratching against my stomach, my thighs—everywhere.
Then in one move, I pick up his plate—and smash the apple pie in his stupid, handsome face.
“Kiss this, asshole.”
― Emma Chase, quote from Royally Screwed
“I’ll go first, then you follow me, Alex, exactly where I step. Bear will come behind you,” Jordan said. “And remember, only one person on a square at a time.”
She hadn’t been told that before. “Why?”
Jordan grimaced and said, “They’re kind of… booby-trapped.”
“Booby-trapped,” she deadpanned.
He looked at her innocently and shrugged as if to say it wasn’t his fault.
“You know what?” Alex muttered. “I don’t even want to know how you know that.”
― Lynette Noni, quote from Akarnae
“People spoke so reverently of affection. For me, it seemed a torment. I couldn’t believe people enjoyed these feelings. How could someone relish this excruciating need to secure a claim on another human?”
― S.J. Kincaid, quote from The Diabolic
“Бедные люди капризны, — это уж так от природы устроено. Я это и прежде чувствовал. Он, бедный-то человек, он взыскателен; он и на свет-то божий иначе смотрит, и на каждого прохожего косо глядит, да вокруг себя смущенным взором поводит, да прислушивается к каждому слову, — дескать, не про него ли там что говорят? ...И ведомо каждому, Варенька, что бедный человек хуже ветошки и никакого ни от кого уважения получить не може, что уж там ни пиши!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from Poor Folk
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