“My dad hates umbrellas, said Deeba, swinging her own. When it rains he always says the same thing. 'I do not believe the presence of moisture in the air is sufficient reason to overturn society's usual sensible taboo against wielding spiked clubs at eye level.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“If you're brave enough to try, you might be able to catch a train from UnLondon to Parisn't, or No York, or Helsunki, or Lost Angeles, or Sans Francisco, or Hong Gone, or Romeless.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“...where's the skill in being a hero if you were always destined to do it?”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“I'm Margarita Staples." She bowed in her harness. "Extreme librarian. Bookaneer.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“So...I'm the funny one? I'm the funny sidekick?
.
.
.
That's no way to talk about anyone! To say they're just hangers-on to someone more important.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Were you terrified, Murgatroyd?" Murgatroyd nodded eagerly. "There you go, girl: You're a terrorist. You make me twitchy, and under Article Forty-One of the 2000 Terrorism Bill, that's all I need. Time for some reasonable force, I think.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Yeah, but where’s the skill in being a hero if you were always destined to do it?”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Is it dangerous? Hmm. Well, define 'dangerous.' Is a knife 'dangerous'? Is Russian roulette 'dangerous'? Is arsenic 'dangerous'? ...It really depends on your perspective.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“My job is never boring," Staples said. "There's nuts-and-bolts stuff like getting the tarpaulin over the shaft when it rains, and so in. Cataloging and reshelving. The shelves are in a shocking state. And when you've got everything ever written or lost to keep track of, it's quite a job. And there's fetching books.
"I used to really look forward to requests for books way down in the abyss. We'd all rope up, follow our lines down for miles. The order falls apart a way down but you learn to sniff out class-marks. Sometimes we'd be gone for weeks, fetching volumes.' She spoke with a faraway voice.
"There are risks. Hunters, animals, and accidents. Ropes that snap. Sometimes someone gets separated. Twenty years ago, I was in a group looking for a book someone had requested. I remember, it was called 'Oh, All Right Then': Bartleby Returns. We were led by Ptolemy Yes. He was the man taught me. Best librarian there's ever been, some say.
"Anyway, after weeks of searching, we ran out of food and had to turn back. No one likes it when we fail, so none of us were feeling great.
"We felt that much worse when we realized that we'd lost Ptolemy.
"Some people say he went off deliberately. That he couldn't bear not to find the book. That he's out there still in the Wordhoard Abyss, living off shelf-monkeys, looking. And that he'll be back one day, book in his hand.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Come on then," Deeba said. "We haven't got time to waste. You're not the ones who are going to get forgot in a few days' time if you don't phone home.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“You've met our guards." He gestured at the silent cylindrical guide. "The secret warriors: the binja.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Strictly speaking, she thought, this place was a cross between a forest and a jungle. “This is a jorest,” she said to Hemi. “Yeah,” he said. “No, it’s a fungle.” They grinned.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“A dark-windowed diesel train burst out of the building, close enough to make the bus shake. It helter-skeltered downward into the earth. “Where’s it going?” Zanna said. “Crossing the Odd, to some of the other abcities,” Jones said. “If you’re brave enough to try, you might be able to catch a train from UnLondon to Parisn’t, or No York, or Helsunki, or Lost Angeles, or Sans Francisco, or Hong Gone, or Romeless…It’s a terminus.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t take him for part-ghost—but you’d know he wanted to be somewhere else.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“I do not believe the presence of moisture in the air is sufficient reason to overturn society’s usual sensible taboo against wielding spiked clubs at eye level.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“UnLondon would have to look after itself. She wasn’t the Shwazzy. She was just someone. How could just someone be any help, whatever was going on?”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Easiest way is to bend over and say ‘car.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
“Pokud člověka mátlo pobývat v Přízrakově, kde ho obklopovali duchové předchozích forem, ocitnout se uvnitř této budovy mu vyrazilo dech.
Zdálo se, jako by se chodba stahovala a zužovala podle kolotání jejích duchů. Stěny byly ověšené osvědčeními a obrazy, které obklopovaly další v přízračné podobě. Kolem světel visely přízraky holých žárovek a složitých lustrů.
"Myslím, že hodím šavli," řekla Deeba.
"To je ti jenom duchno," poznamenal Hemi. "To se spraví.”
― China Miéville, quote from Un Lun Dun
China Miéville
Born place: in Norwich, England, The United Kingdom
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“I noticed him right away. No, it wasn’t his lean, rugged face. Or the dark waves of shiny hair that hung just a little too long on his forehead. It wasn’t the slim, collarless biker jacket he wore, hugging his lean shoulders. It was the way he stood. The confident way he waited in the cafeteria line to get a slice of pizza. He didn’t saunter. He didn’t amble. He stood at the center, and let the other people buzz around him. His stance was straight and sure.”
― Priya Ardis, quote from Ever My Merlin
“You’re trying to spoil me,” she murmured, keeping her back to him to hide her reaction to the gift.
“I’m still seducing you.” He kissed her shoulder, a smile curling his lips as he pressed them to her flesh.
“Hmm, so what are you after other than what you’ve had already?” She turned to him, her brow arching as he stared down at her, that sexy little half grin tilting his lips, his gray eyes swirling with whatever emotions he kept within himself.
Didn’t he know he already had all of her?
“You—” He touched her nose with his index finger “—have no clue. Now, see how fast you can make me drool with one of those dresses. I’m betting I can hold out all of ten seconds.”
“Think you can make it ten seconds, do you?” She fingered a bronze “almost there” dress. So soft and buttery she was certain she’d barely feel it against her flesh. It was short, the back low, the straps strappy, the bodice obviously snug, and low as well.
Seth looked at the dress and swallowed tightly. “Five seconds?” he said faintly.
Her lips twitched. “I’ll get dressed.”
She pulled the dress from the rack and bent to pick up the strappy high heels that went with it.
“You have matching panties,” he said hoarsely. “They have a bow at the back too.”
― Lora Leigh, quote from Dawn's Awakening
“Why was it that thoughts and plans always made more sense when confined to one's mind than when they exited one's mouth?”
― Karen Witemeyer, quote from Stealing the Preacher
“My mind seemed to think in terms of very bad song lyrics these days.”
― Hester Browne, quote from Little Lady, Big Apple
“Besides, I'd seen a really nice pair of shoes yesterday in the mall and I wanted them for my own. I can't describe the feeling of immediate familiarity that rushed between us. The moment I clapped eyes on them I felt like I already owned them. I could only suppose that we were together in a former life. That they were my shoes when I was a serving maid in medieval Britain or when I was a princess in ancient Egypt. Or perhaps they were the princess and I was the shoes. Who's to know? Either way I knew that we were meant to be together.”
― Marian Keyes, quote from Watermelon
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To Sir Phillip, With...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.
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