Quotes from The Virgin in the Garden

“Lists are a form of power.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

“...it is not possible to create the opposite of what one has always known, simply because the opposite is believed to be desired. Human beings need what they already know, even horrors.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

“There was a moment during this time, when his face was on hers, cheek on cheek, brow on brow, heavy skull on skull, through soft skin and softer flesh. He thought: skulls separate people. In this one sense, I could say, they would say, I lose myself in her. But in that bone box, she thinks and thinks, as I think in mine, things the other won't hear, can't hear, though we go on like this for sixty years. What does she think I am? He had no idea. He had no idea what she was.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

“A metamorphosis... The shining butterfly of the soul from the pupa of the body. Larva, pupa, imago. An image of art.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

“Those words . . . national and portrait. They were both to do with identity: the identity of a culture (place, language and history), the identity of an individual human being as an object for mimetic representation.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

“Contemporary' was in those days [1953] synonymous with 'modern' as it had not been before and is not now [1977].”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden

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Popular quotes

“It is better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you are not.” — ANDRÉ GIDE”
― Wayne W. Dyer, quote from Being In Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires

“The lingering laughter fled from his eyes as he realized that he'd given himself away. "Where's Fiddle now?"
"Safe and cared for. Safer than you'll be if you don't answer my questions."
Ping.
He managed not to laugh, but it looked like a hard fight.
"Dung," Makenna muttered. the knight's expression changed to startled disapproval. A prig, as he? Maybe she could use that.
"I said you should let me handle this," Cogswhallop told her. "I'd have meant it.”
― Hilari Bell, quote from The Goblin Wood

“It's like she had a soul that was much too big for her; it filled her to the brim till there was no more space, so it flowed out through her eyes.”
― Nick Lake, quote from In Darkness

“Dunque," mormorò, "secondo lei le feste natalizie sono un'epoca poco favorevole ai delitti."
"E' quel che penso."
"Perché?"
"Perché?" Johnson parve un pò perplesso. "Perché, come ho detto, c'è un senso diffuso di allegria, di buona volontà...di buoni pranzi..."
"Come siete sentimentali, voi inglesi!"
"Bé, e anche se fosse così, che male ci vede? E' forse un male amare le tradizioni, le vecchie feste?"
"Oh no, nessun male, anzi è una cosa molto poetica! Ma esaminiamo i fatti. Lei ha detto che Natale è un'epoca di buoni pranzi. Questo significa che in questi giorni si mangia e si beve troppo...Per conseguenza...indigestioni, e all'indigestione si accompagna spesso una speciale irritabilità del carattere."
"Ma i delitti non vengono commessi per irritabilità."
"uhm! Non ne sono troppo sicuro...Ma partiamo anche da un altro punto di vista. A Natale impera lo spirito di "buona volontà". Vecchi litigi vengono dimenticati, coloro che si trovano in disaccordo fanno la pace...Sia pure provvisoriamente, le famiglie che sono state separate per tutto l'anno si raccolgono ancora una volta. In queste occasioni, amico mio, deve ammettere che i nervi possono venir sottoposti a dura prova. Persone che non hanno alcuna voglia di essere amabili fanno uno sforzo per apparirlo...C'è in essi molta ipocrisia, a Natale, onorevole ipocrisia, senza dubbio, ipocrisia pour le bon motif, ma sempre ipocrisia."
"Bé...io non presenterei le cose in questo modo," disse Johnson con aria dubbiosa.
Poirot gli sorrise.
"No, no, sono io che le presento così...e che sostengo come lo sforzo per essere buoni e amabili crei un malessere che può riuscire in definitiva pericoloso. Chiudete le valvole di sicurezza del vostro contegno naturale, e, presto o tardi, la caldaia scoppierà provocando un disastro."
Il colonnello Johnson guardò il piccolo belga.
"Non riesco mai a capire quando parla sul serio e quando si sta burlando di me."
"Non parlo sul serio, no!" disse Poirot ridendo. "Nemmeno per sogno. Ma sostengo che condizioni artificiali di vita finiscono sempre con una naturale reazione.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Hercule Poirot's Christmas

“If California ever becomes a prosperous country, this bay will be the centre of its prosperity.”
― Richard Henry Dana Jr., quote from Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea

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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.