Pseudonymous Bosch · 364 pages
Rating: (44.3K votes)
“Only bad books have good endings.
If a book is any good, it's ending is always bad - because you don't want the book to end.”
“Books can also provoke emotions. And emotions sometimes are even more troublesome than ideas. Emotions have led people to do all sorts of things they later regret-like, oh, throwing a book at someone else.”
“Generally speaking, books don't cause much harm. Except when you read them, that is. Then they cause all kinds of problems.”
“But remember what I said about forgetting what I said?”
“It was like walking into a treasure trove of books, hoarded by pirate librarians.”
“*Appendix usually means "small outgrowth from large intestine," but in this case it means "additional information accompanying main text." Or are those really the same things? Think carefully before you insult this book.”
“Please be SILENT and LISTEN.
I am the SCHOOLMASTER
and you are in the CLASSROOM.
Just like ELEVEN PLUS TWO equals
TWELVE PLUS ONE,
And even a FUNERAL can be REAL FUN,
You will find my DICTIONARY
is quite INDICATORY.
If you want to read my story, just look...
THEN UNREAD.”
“Not all novelists are power-hungry madman. Some are power-hungry madwomen.”
“This book will not harm you unless someone throws it at you which is a possibilty never to be discounted.”
“Who needs to go somewhere when you can read about it.”
“One dictionary defines denouement as "a final part in which everything is made clear and no questions or surprises remain." By that definition, it is exactly the wrong word to describe this chapter. This chapter will make nothing clear; it will raise many questions; and it may even contain a surprise or two. But I say we call it the denouement anyway because the words sounds so sophisticated and French.”
“Some secrets are meant to be known- but once known you can never forget them.”
“Better to cry wolf over and over than never to cry wolf at all.”
“Why did so many grown-ups want to be young, she wondered, when it took so long to grow old? It was like going on a million-mile road trip then wanting to turn around without getting out of the car.”
“Before we do, I suggest you take a break. If you need to go to the bathroom, this is a good time. If you're sleepy, go to bed and save the next chapter for tomorrow. For the magician's story, you must have all your wits about you. No wandering minds allowed.”
“WARNING:
DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS PAGE!”
“The first expert said he had attention deficit disorder. The second expert said the first was out of order. One said he was autistic, another that he was artistic. One said he had Tourette's syndrome. One said he had Asperger's syndrome. And one said the problem was that his parents had Munchausen syndrome. Still another said all he needed was a good old-fashioned spanking.”
“Cassandra, when you want to speak to me, you should say 'Excuse me, Mrs. Johnson.' Then wait until you get my attention."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Johnson. Do I have your attention now?”
“You must have your wits about you. No wandering minds allowed.”
“If this was a normal cover for a normal book,I would tell it's FANTASTIC!GRIPPING!
(according to all book covers they're fantastic and gripping)”
“Happily, you don’t know how to find me. If you did, I’ve no doubt, you would try to bribe me to finish the story. I know how you are. I know how I am, too. I am very susceptible to bribes. As you’ve probably noticed, I have no self-control whatsoever. I like chocolate best. But I also have a fondness for cheese.”
“But there were other, vaguer, harder-to-pin-down feelings, like: a pit in the stomach that means something is either really good or really bad or both. A feeling of being old and young at once. A sense of beginnings and endings happening at the same time. A certainty that your life is changing, but an uncertainty about how it's changing and whether you want it to.”
“If you’re sleepy, go to bed and save the next chapter for tomorrow.”
“a nurse threatened to put their child up for adoption if they didn’t reach a decision.”
“WARNING: DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS PAGE!
Good.
Now I know I can trust you.
You’re curious. You’re brave. And you’re not afraid
to lead a life of crime.
But let’s get something straight: if, despite my
warning, you insist on reading this book, you can’t
hold me responsible for the consequences.
And, make no bones about it, this is a very
dangerous book.
No, it won’t blow up in your face. Or bite your head
off. Or tear you limb from limb.
It probably won’t injure you at all. Unless
somebody throws it at you, which is a possibility that
should never be discounted.
Generally speaking, books don’t cause much harm.
Except when you read them, that is. Then they cause
all kinds of problems.
Books can, for example, give you ideas. I don’t
know if you’ve ever had an idea before, but, if you
have, you know how much trouble an idea can get
you into.
Books can also provoke emotions. And emotions
sometimes are even more troublesome than ideas.
Emotions have led people to do all sorts of things
they later regret – like, oh, throwing a book at someone else.
But the main reason this book is so dangerous is
that it concerns a secret.
A big secret.”
“When a dark blue-black flame jumped up from the fire, the entire room”
“(Teeth, as you may know from watching television,”
“Though no longer pregnant, she continues, at times, to mix Rice Krispies and peanuts and onions in a bowl. For being a foreigner Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy -- a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been an ordinary life, only to discover that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding. Like pregnancy, being a foreigner, Ashima believes, is something that elicits the same curiosity of from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect.”
“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”
“The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths.
It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang.”
“Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief God uses it to serve his own Rigteous purposes."
"So God uses wicked people as his tools?"
"God gives us the freedom to to do great evil, if we choose, then He uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil, for that is what He chooses."
"So, in the long run, God always wins?"
"Yes, in the short run though it can be uncomfortable.”
“You make me want to live, Rowan. Not survive; not exist. Live.”
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