“I think it's possible to learn. The problem is that we learn so damned slowly, so that by the time you've realized something, it's too late.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Incidentally, I really agree with those who say that the capacity to forgive says something about the essential quality of a person. I'm the lowest grade.'
'I didn't mean to criticize you.'
'I promise to be better in my next life...”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“...'I've never told you this, but when you were in your teens one of your teachers called us. He said you'd been fighting in the playground again. With two of the boys from the grade above, but this time it hadn't turned out so well--they'd had to send you to the hospital to have your lip sewn and a tooth taken out. I stopped your allowance, remember? Anyway, Øystein told me about the fight later. You flew at them because they'd filled Tresko's knapsack with water from the school fountain. If I remember correctly, you didn't even like Tresko much. Øystein said the reason you'd been hurt so badly was that you didn't give in. You got up time after time and in the end you were bleeding so much that the big boys became alarmed and went on their way.'
Olav Hole laughed quietly. 'I didn't think I could tell you that at the time--it would only have been asking for more fights--but I was so proud I could have wept. You were brave, Harry. You were scared of the dark, but that didn't stop you going there.'...”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“No, of love. It’s the same currency. Everything starts with love. Hatred is just the other side of the coin.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“I promise to be better in my next life,”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“That was what life was: a process of destruction, a disintegration from what at the outset was perfect. The only suspense involved was whether we would be destroyed in one sudden act or slowly.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Rikshospital. He was in the rhythm now. Time was not chopped up by events; it flowed in an even stream.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Harry shrugged. “I think it’s possible to learn. The problem is that we learn so damned slowly, so that by the time you’ve realized something, it’s too late.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“It often strikes me how I ought to wish I had more regrets,” Øystein said. “But I don’t give a shit. I think I just accepted from my first waking second that I was an asshole. What about you?”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Because pain and death are not the worst that can befall mankind,” Harry said, again hearing the echo. “Humiliation is. That was what he wanted for Leike. The humiliation of having everything you possess taken from you. The fall, the shame.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“There were those who asserted that sons always became, to some degree or other, disguised variants of their fathers, that the experience of breaking out was never more than an illusion; you returned; the gravity of blood was not only stronger than your willpower, it was your willpower.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Physical pain is not the worst thing a human has to deal with,” Altman said. “Believe me, I see it every day. Not death, either. Nor even fear of death.” “What is the worst, then?” “Humiliation. To be deprived of honor and dignity. To be disrobed, to be cast out by the flock. That’s the worst punishment; it’s akin to being buried alive. And the only consolation is that the person will perish fairly quickly.” “Mm.” Harry kept eye contact with Altman. “You don’t have anything in that cupboard to lighten the atmosphere,”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Light, expensive and yet spartan in that cool modern way that is not intentionally minimalist, just somewhat soulless. A room that demands efficiency so that you can get the hell out of it.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“You are Bellman, aren’t you? The genius who sent the sauna ape after me?” Harry nodded toward the Finn.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“Because humans are complicated,” Harry said, and could hear an echo of something he had heard and forgotten. “We want to do things that are complex, that mesh, where we control our fates and can feel like rulers of our own universes.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from The Leopard
“The most attractive quality of all is dignity.”
― Sherry Argov, quote from Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl—A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship
“Not having anything around to read is dangerous: you have to content yourself with life itself, and that can lead you to take risks.”
― Michel Houellebecq, quote from Platform
“Whatcha doin', Freak Girl?"
---------------------------
"What does it look like, brainiac?" I shot back, even surprising myself with the force of my jab. "I'll give you three guesses. No, wait. Don't strain yourself. Wouldn't want to hurt your head." I waved a flyer in his face, channeling my inner mean girl. "See these? I'm hanging them...on a...wall!" I spoke the last part slowly, as if addressing a dim-witted child. Which wasn't far off the mark, now that I thought about it. "With tape," I added, waving at the dispenser. "You know-sticky, sticky!”
― Mari Mancusi, quote from Gamer Girl
“I was doing my little stand up shtick, the one I did for pretty girls, so they'd like me quickly and wouldn't try too hard to actually get to know me beyond my role as wisecracking Cameron, the orphan. Maybe it was a little like flirting, but also a kind of protection: Don't get too close; I'm just jokes with substance.”
― Emily M. Danforth, quote from The Miseducation of Cameron Post
“At first it was not quite dark. I could see little trees growing out of the face of the cliff, and I grabbed at them with my hands as I went down. Several times I managed to catch hold of a branch, but it always broke off at once because I was so heavy and because I was falling so fast, and once I caught a thick branch with both hands and the tree leaned forward and I heard the snapping of the roots one by one until it came away from the cliff and I went on falling. Then it became darker because the sun and the day were in the fields far away at the top of the cliff, and as I fell I kept my eyes open and watched the darkness turn from grey-black to black, from black to jet black and from jet black to pure liquid blackness which I could touch with my hands but which I could not see. But I went on falling, and it was so black that there was nothing anywhere and it was not any use doing anything or caring or thinking because of the blackness and because of the falling.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
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