“An interesting thing happened today,” she said, giving me just enough time to get the word “hi” out of my mouth. “I opened the front door and there was a man on my doorstep. A big man. A very big, very black man.”
“Rachel —”
“You said it would be discreet. His T–shirt had the words ‘Klan Killer’ written on the front.”
“I —”
“And do you know what he said?”
I waited.
“He handed me a note from Louis and told me he was lactose intolerant. That was it. Note. Lactose intolerant. Nothing else. He’s coming to the reading with me. It was all I could do to get him to change his T–shirt. The new one reads ‘Black Death.’ I’m going to tell people it’s a rap band. Do you think it’s a rap band?”
I figured it was probably his occupation, but I didn’t say that. Instead, I said the only thing I could think of to say.
“Maybe you’d better buy some soy milk.”
She hung up without saying good–bye.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
“You still carrying an arsenal in the trunk of your car?”
“Why, you need something?”
“No, but if your car is hit by lightning I’ll know where my lawn went.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
“So what you gonna do?”
“Push a stick into the beehive and rustle up some bees. The Larousses are hosting a party today. I think we should avail ourselves of their hospitality.”
“We got an invite?”
“Has not having one ever stopped us before?”
“No, but sometimes I just like to be invited to shit, you know what I’m sayin’, instead of havin’ to bust in, get threatened, irritate the nice white folks, put the fear of the black man on them.”
He paused, seemed to think for a while about what he had just said, then brightened.
“Sounds good, doesn’t it?” I said.
“Real good,” he agreed.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
“I have found in the past that what passes for coincidence is usually life’s way of telling you that you’re not paying enough attention.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
“THE AFRO-AMERICAN HAS BEEN HEIR TO THE MYTHS THAT IT IS BETTER TO BE POOR THAN RICH, LOWER-CLASS RATHER THAN MIDDLE OR UPPER, EASYGOING RATHER THAN INDUSTRIOUS, EXTRAVAGANT RATHER THAN THRIFTY AND ATHLETIC RATHER THAN ACADEMIC.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
“So, how we doin'?"
"Same as usual: dead people, a mystery, more dead people."
"Who we lost?"
"The boy. His guardians. Maybe Elliot Norton."
"Shit, don't sound like we got anybody left. Anyone hires you better leave you your fee in their will.”
― John Connolly, quote from The White Road
John Connolly
Born place: in Dublin, Ireland
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“Middle-aged people can balance between believing in God and breaking all the commandments without difficulty.”
― T.H. White, quote from The Ill-Made Knight
“(pg.31)
"As it was, my first days on Earth were somewhat anticlimactic. Mother and Father seemed so happy tempting and corrupting that I didn't want to interrupt them. But the fact was that I hadn't the slightest clue what to do with myself. I tried to convince cows to take over the world, to rampage across the fields slaughtering all in their wake, to start a new religion of udder worship, to build cities devoted to the consumption of grass, their aqueducts running with fresh milk. I even prepared a pictorial presentation of cows traveling into outer space aboard butter-powered space churns, but the cows seemed unconvinced, and soon returned to wondering how many stomachs they had. The current belief was seventeen. Cows:Unambitious.”
― quote from Death: A Life
“The Guardian's eyes widened with amazement, and he tightened his grip on me. He had my arms, so the action I was forced to take was entirely his fault. It was as direct as my previous action, but not nearly as polite.
In the next instant, the Guardian was on his knees trying to remember how to breath.”
― Lisa Shearin, quote from Magic Lost, Trouble Found
“E eu via prados e declives, gretas de penhascos cobertas de grama, flores, fetos e musgos, aos quais a velha voz popular dera nomes tão singulares e tão cheios de significações. Viviam, filhos e netos que são das montanhas, coloridos e inofensivos, ali mesmo nos seus postos. Eu os apalpava, contemplava-os, aspirava-lhes o perfume e aprendia seus nomes. Impressionava-me ainda mais séria e profundamente com a contemplação das árvores. Via cada uma delas levando sua vida à parte, aperfeiçoando sua forma e coroa especiais, projetando sua sombra peculiar. A mim me pareciam ermitãs e lutadoras, mais estreitamente aparentadas com as montanhas, pois cada uma delas, sobretudo as que se erguiam nos pontos mais altos das montanhas, mantinham sua luta silenciosa e tenaz pela existência e desenvolvimento, contra o vento, o tempo e as rochas. Cada qual tinha que suportar seu próprio peso e se agarrar com força ao solo, resultando daí que cada uma possuía uma forma particular e chagas especiais. Havia pinheiros aos quais as tormentas só permitiam que apresentassem galhos de um só lado, e outros cujos troncos avermelhados se haviam enroscado, quais serpentes, ao redor de rochas, de tal maneira que árvores e rochas se agarravam umas às outras para se sustentarem. A mim elas se assemelhavam a guerreiros e despertavam no meu coração um sentimento de medo e de respeito. (p. 8)”
― Hermann Hesse, quote from Peter Camenzind
“He did look like an Italian of the worse type, though Vic didn't think he was, and it was an insult to the Italian race to assume that he was. He resembled no particular race, only an amalgamation of the worst elements of various Latin peoples. He looked as if he had spent all his life dodging blows that were probably aimed at him for good reason.”
― Patricia Highsmith, quote from Deep Water
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