Quotes from The Parasites

Daphne du Maurier ·  352 pages

Rating: (1.2K votes)


“Watch that boy. He's going to startle somebody someday.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


“Once a person gave his talent to the world, the world put a stamp upon it. The talent was not a personal possession any more. It was something to be traded, bought and sold. It fetched a high price, or a low one. It was kicked in the common market.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


“But the point is this Monsieur...the reason why Madame complains of you is not because of the immorality in itself; but because, so she tells me, you make immorality delicious.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


“It was a day to be inside somewhere, cosseted and loved; by a warm fireside with the clatter of friendly cups and saucers, a sleepy cat licking his paws, a cyclamen in a pot on a windowsill putting forth new buds.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


“An armchair is always an armchair, to the modern child, never a ship, never a desert island. The pattern on the wall are patterns; not characters whose faces change at dusk... The trouble is, the children have no imagination. They are sweet, and have carefree, honest eyes; but they have not any magic in their day. The magic has all gone...”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites



“I feel it's all wrong to be nervous," said Maria. "I feel it's lack of confidence. One ought to go right ahead, never minding."
"Some people do," he said, "but they're the duds. They are the ones that win prizes at school, and you never hear of them again. Go on. Be nervous. Be ill. Be sick down the lavatory pan. It's part of your life from now on. You've got to go through with it. Nothing's worth while if you don't fight for it first, if you haven't a pain in your belly beforehand.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


“What was the point of having a man if all he could do was turn his back and sleep? Not that she wanted him to do anything else, but in a way it was an insult. The turned back reminded her of all the various backs that had not been turned. Which was a depressing thought, because it meant she was beginning to live in the past.

Backs That Were Never Turned. The Reminisces of Maria Delaney...No, it was not depressing. It was funny.”
― Daphne du Maurier, quote from The Parasites


About the author

Daphne du Maurier
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
Born date May 13, 1907
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Beware a kiss, he told her. Kisses are powerful things. You expose part of your soul.”
― Ruth Frances Long, quote from The Treachery of Beautiful Things


“Please,” Tom whispered. “There’s other gals you can steal. Don’t take this one. Let her go home to her family.” Breaking off, he licked his lips. “She ain’t done you no harm.”
After a long while, Hunter returned his attention to the fire. “This Comanche does not sell his women. Not even for rifles. She goes with me.”
“Why this girl?”
Hunter tossed a sliver of wood onto the flames. “Another will not do.”
― Catherine Anderson, quote from Comanche Moon


“Because the things you have, and the neighborhood you live in, doesn’t have anything to do with what kind of human being you are.”
― Julia Spencer-Fleming, quote from In the Bleak Midwinter


“I wanted to weep. Everywhere I went, it seemed that people wanted to discuss slavery, yet they talked about it as if it was an abstract concept. It wasn’t abstract to me. Slaves were real-life people with individual faces and souls. I knew some of those faces, loved some of those souls, and it broke my heart to be reminded of the truth about them—that Josiah and Tessie weren’t allowed to be man and wife; that Grady had been torn without warning from his mother’s arms; that Eli could be whipped for secretly preaching about Jesus in the pine grove or killed for knowing how to read.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Candle in the Darkness


“People only talk about how wonderful youth is when they have forgotten how hard it was.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Lonesome Gods


Interesting books

Missions spéciales
(2.9K)
Missions spéciales
by Boris Akunin
A Caribbean Mystery
(19.2K)
A Caribbean Mystery
by Agatha Christie
The Call of the Christmas Pecan Tree
(2)
The Call of the Chri...
by Edna Stewart
The Christmas Train
(16.4K)
The Christmas Train
by David Baldacci
Hour Game
(30K)
Hour Game
by David Baldacci
The Return of Black Douglas
(444)
The Return of Black...
by Elaine Coffman

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.