“A strange, pale figure emerged—Pendergast?—and she felt herself suddenly in his arms, lifted bodily as if she were a child again, her head cradled against his chest. She felt his shoulders began to convulse, faintly, regularly, almost as if he was weeping. But that was, of course, impossible, as Pendergast would never cry.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“Carroting, you must understand, was a process by which animal fur is bathed in a solution of mercury nitrate, in order to render the hairs more supple, thus producing a superior felt.” At this last word, he threw a significant glance in my direction. “Felt,” I repeated. “You mean, for the making of hats?” “Precisely. The solution is of an orange colour, hence the term carroting. However, this process had rather severe side effects on those who worked with it, which is why its use today is much reduced. When mercury vapours are inhaled over a long enough period of time—particularly, for our purposes, in the close quarters of a hat-making operation—toxic and irreversible effects almost inevitably follow. One develops tremors of the hands; blackened teeth; slurred speech. In severe cases, dementia or outright insanity can occur. Hence the term mad as a hatter.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“An accident is only a puzzle piece that hasn’t yet found its place in the picture. A good detective collects all ‘accidents,’ no matter how insignificant.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“the shudder of fear is as sensual as the shudder of pleasure, if not more so.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“Fire is often the weapon of choice for the insane.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“It is all about how human beings construct a narrative out of random events, baseless assumptions, and simple-minded prejudices.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“She felt his shoulders began to convulse, faintly, regularly, almost as if he was weeping. But that was, of course, impossible, as Pendergast would never cry.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“I don’t know jack about wine, sorry.” “You should learn. It is one of the true and ancient pleasures that make human existence tolerable.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“as corrie was about to hang up, stacy said, "i hope he shoots at my car. i've got a couple of black talon rounds just itching to explore his inner psyche.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“I am indeed sorry to say this, but I fear your microscopic problems do not interest me.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“Everything he did, he did well, and as a result he was an accomplished asshole indeed.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“I prefer to sleep while the rabble are out and about.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
Douglas Preston
Born place: in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The United States
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“Mr. Shepherd, ye cannot stop a bad thought from coming into your head. But ye need not pull up a chair and bide it sit down." - Mrs. Brown”
― Barbara Kingsolver, quote from The Lacuna
“It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down,” he told his daughter, Marilynn. “What matters is how many times you get up.”
― Daniel James Brown, quote from The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
“To have been part of a Pharaonic slave system that had at its apex a divine sun king led him to understand unreality as the greatest force in life. And his life was now, he felt, one monumental unreality, in which everything that did not matter—professional ambitions, the private pursuit of status, the colour of wallpaper, the size of an office or the matter of a dedicated car parking space—was vested with the greatest significance, and everything that did matter—pleasure, joy, friendship, love—was deemed somehow peripheral. It made for dullness mostly and weirdness generally.”
― Richard Flanagan, quote from The Narrow Road to the Deep North
“Nothing comforted Sabine like long division. That was how she had passed time waiting for Phan and then Parsifal to come back from their tests. She figured the square root of the date while other people knit and read. Sabine blamed much of the world's unhappiness on the advent of calculators.”
― Ann Patchett, quote from The Magician's Assistant
“It's safe to assume that by 2085 guns will be sold in vending machines but you won't be able to smoke anywhere in America.”
― David Sedaris, quote from When You Are Engulfed in Flames
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The Ghost Map: The S...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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