Quotes from Touch

Claire North ·  426 pages

Rating: (7.2K votes)


“There is no loneliness more lonely than to be alone in a crowd. No awkwardness more unsettling than the inside joke you do not comprehend.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“Nothing is ever quite enough. No matter who you are, there’s always something more to be had, which could be yours if only you were someone else.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“Consequences are only for the ones who stay behind.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“I hate marmalade.” “I like it,” I retorted. “I could eat pots of the stuff.” He straightened a little, turned to fully examine me. “Are you… threatening me with breakfast condiments?”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“People always find difficult truths harder than easy lies.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch



“insecurity is often the mother of aggression.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“True fear is the fear of doubt; it is the mind that will not sleep, the open space at your back where the murderer stands with the axe. It is the gasp of a shadow passed whose cause you cannot see, the laughter of a stranger whose laugh, you know, laughs at you.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“It is perhaps the simplicity of his affection, the patience of his understanding and loyalty that makes him too easy to love, for his love is taken for granted by many, who give back nothing in return.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“In the land of the free you are free to say whatever you want, regardless of whether you have anything to say.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“I have no time for boiled sausages, or boiled vegetables of any nature really, and cannot for the life of me comprehend why anyone would still insist on serving dishes whose whole cooking process consisted of exposure to water, to freely invited guests.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch



“How the fuck do I know that my better is anything more than the great big fat lie we tell ourselves to justify the slow fat nothing of our days.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“You say 'love' too easily, Kepler."
"No, not rally - please don't call me that. The idea that love has to be a blazing romantic thing of monogamous stability is innately ludicrous. You loved your parents, perhaps, because they were the warmth you could flee to. You loved your first childhood crush with a passion that made your lips tingle, your flesh grow light in their presence. You loved your wife with the steadiness of an ocean against the shore; your lover with the blaze of a shooting star, your best friend with the confidence of a mountain. Love is a many-splendorous thing, as the old song says....”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“You say ‘love’ too easily, Kepler."
“No, not really–please don’t call me that. The idea that love has to be a blazing romantic thing of monogamous stability is innately ludicrous. You loved your parents, perhaps, because they were the warmth you could flee to. You loved your first childhood crush with a passion that made your lips tingle, your flesh grow light in their presence. You loved your wife with the steadiness of an ocean against the shore; your lover with the blaze of a shooting star, your best friend with the confidence of a mountain. Love is a many-splendoured thing, as the old song says.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage, or in terrorist activities, or in genocide? I think we can put a big yes down for all of the above.”
“You planning on ratting me out to the US authorities?”
“I thought about it for a fanciful moment,” I replied, pushing the travel documents back across the desk. “I also thought about walking you through the ‘something to declare’ aisle singing the North Korean national anthem, but I doubted anyone would find it funny.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“We were bringing in a suspect, a possible ghost. Marigare decided the witness was compromised. We were supposed to…” he rolled the words slowly around his mouth, like the taste of aniseed that won’t wash away “… eliminate the threat.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch



“I hate LA. Endless straight lines from nowhere particular to nothing much especially. Even”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“Have you ever or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage, or in terrorist activities, or genocide? I think we can put a big yes down for all of the above.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“Their fear is the fear of the funfair ride where reason tells you the seat belt will keep you safe. True fear is the fear of doubt; it is the mind that will not sleep, the open space at your back where the murderer stands with the axe. It is the gasp of a shadow passed whose cause you cannot see, the laughter of a stranger whose laugh, you know, laughs at you.”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


“It is my belief that the process of getting drunk is a cushion to the actual reality of being drunk. Bit by bit the mind grows accustomed to swaying room, burning skin, churning stomach, so though every aspect of your physiology screams, poison, poison, it is the gentle and pleasant acquisition of the state that prevents the experience from becoming a thoroughly vile event. Jumping”
― Claire North, quote from Touch


About the author

Claire North
Born place: in The United Kingdom
Born date April 27, 1986
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“Early risers strolling along the Thames would see the toshers wading through the muck of low tide, dressed almost comically in flowing velveteen coats, their oversized pockets filled with stray bits of copper recovered from the water’s edge. The toshers walked with a lantern strapped to their chest to help them see in the predawn gloom, and carried an eight-foot-long pole that they used to test the ground in front of them, and to pull themselves out when they stumbled into a quagmire. The pole and the eerie glow of the lantern through the robes gave them the look of ragged wizards, scouring the foul river’s edge for magic coins.”
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