“Was it really some other person I was so anxious to discover...or was it only my own solitude that I could not abide?”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“You will say that I am old and mad, was what Michaelangelo wrote, but I answer that there is no better way of being sane and free from anxiety than by being mad.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Once, somebody asked Robert Schumann to explain the meaning of a certain piece of music he had just played on the piano.
What Robert Schumann did was sit back down at the piano and play the piece of music again.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Once, I had a dream of fame.
Generally, even then, I was lonely.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Doubtless these are inconsequential perplexities. Still, inconsequential perplexities have now and again been known to become the fundamental mood of existence, one suspects.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Once, Turner had himself lashed to the mast of a ship for several hours, during a furious storm, so that he could later paint the storm. Obviously, it was not the storm itself that Turner intended to paint. What he intended to paint was a representation of the storm. One's language is frequently imprecise in that manner, I have discovered.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“On the other hand it is probably safe to assume that Rembrandt and Spinoza surely would have at least passed on the street, now and again.
Or even run into each other quite frequently, if only at some neighborhood shop or other.
And certainly they would have exchanged amenities as well, after a time.
Good morning, Rembrandt. Good morning to you, Spinoza.
I was extremely sorry to hear about your bankruptcy, Rembrandt. I was extremely sorry to hear about your excommunication, Spinoza.
Do have a good day, Rembrandt. Do have the same, Spinoza.
All of this would have been said in Dutch, incidentally.
I mention that simply because it is known that Rembrandt did not speak any other language except Dutch.
Even if Spinoza may have preferred Latin. Or Jewish.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“In the beginning, sometimes I left messages in the street.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“In fact one frequently seemed to gather all sorts of similar information about subjects one had less than profound interest in.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Have I ever said that Turner once actually had himself lashed to the mast of a ship, to be able to later do a painting of a storm?
Which has never failed to remind me of the scene in which Odysseus does the identical thing, of course, so that he can listen to the Sirens singing but will stay put.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Still, how I nearly felt. In the midst of all that looking.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“I also believe I met William Gaddis once. He did not look Italian.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Helen ran off with a lover only once in her life herself, and for three thousand years nobody would ever let her forget about it.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“In addition to remembering things that one does not know how one remembers, one would also appear to remember things that one has no idea how one knew to begin with.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Although one curious thing that might sooner or later cross the woman's mind would be that she had paradoxically been practically as alone before all of this had happened as she was now, incidentally. Well, this being an autobiographical novel I can categorically verify that such a thing would sooner or later cross her mind, in fact. One manner of being alone simply being different from another manner of being alone, being all that she would finally decide that this came down to, as well. Which is to say that even when one's telephone still does function one can be as alone as when it does not.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Although what I have basically been doing about the rain is ignoring it, to tell the truth.
How I do that is by walking in it.
I did not fail to notice that those last two sentences must certainly look like a contradiction, by the way.
Even if they are on such thing.
One can very agreeably ignore a rain by walking in it.
In fact it is when one allows a rain to prevent one from walking in it that one is failing to ignore it.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“One can very agreeably ignore a rain by walking in it.
In fact it is when one allows a rain to prevent one from walking in it that one is failing to ignore it.
Surely by saying, dear me, I will get soaked through and through if I walk in this rain, for instance, one is in no way ignoring the rain.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“One of the things people generally admire about Van Gogh, even though they were not always aware of it, was the way he could make even a chair seem to have anxiety in it.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“People who write novels only write them when they have very little else to write”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Once, somebody asked Robert Schumann to explain the meaning of a certain piece of music he had just played on the piano. What Robert Schumann did was sit back down at the piano and play the piece of music again.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“I do not masturbate often. Though at times I do so almost without being aware of it, actually.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Even if I had not been thinking about it, for that matter, certainly I would have had to begin to do so when I typed those last few sentences.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Very possibly this was what was in Wittgenstein's own mind all of those years later, in face, when he said that you do no need a lot of money to give a nice present, but you do needs a lot of time.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Have I mentioned looking in Savona, New York, ever? Or in Cambridge, Massachusetts?”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Every single one of the letters having been identical.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Finally on Tuesday I understood why I was feeling depressed.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“Because what I am also suddenly know thinking about is that it could be an absolutely autobiographical novel that would not start until I was alone, obviously.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
“The novel has been the subject of several scholarly essays and has become a staple of college classes in contemporary fiction (and even the occasional philosophy class).
Fifty-four rejections.”
― David Markson, quote from Wittgenstein's Mistress
David Markson
Born place: in Albany, New York, The United States
Born date December 20, 1927
See more on GoodReads
“The intruder shifted his weight and pulled the knife back, aiming at Gabriel’s chest. The moonlight glinted off the sharp blade and Gabriel found himself backed up against a wall.
There was no escape. Gabriel was going to have to bear the pain of a knife through his chest. He could do it. He would wait until the knife entered his flesh and then he’d snap the Ashman’s neck in half.
Yeah. That was a good plan.
Just as the knife came toward Gabriel, the Ashman grunted and pulled back, taking a few wobbly steps before falling to the floor.
Nate stood to the side, his hands on a large sword jutting from the Ashman’s back. He yanked out the sword, leaving the stranger’s body limp.
Nate stepped toward the Ashman’s body, looking him over timidly.
Without warning, the intruder rolled over and pulled himself up off the floor. Nate jumped back, lifted the sword in defense, and made a loud noise that sounded something like, “Arrrhh!”
Still clutching the bloody knife, the Ashman looked back and forth between Nate and Gabriel. Seeing he was outnumbered, he turned and ran back through the destruction of the living room.Jumping out of the gaping hole from the missing living room window, the Ashman disappeared into the storm
A moment passed as Gabriel and Nate stared after their attacker, both of them out of breath.
Still badly bleeding, Gabriel turned to Nate and looked at the weapon he held. The sword was oversized, extra shiny and had a very ornate handle. “I don’t remember ever seeing that sword in our arsenal before.”
Hunched over and trying to catch his breath, Nate said, “That’s because it’s from my arsenal.”
“So, you just had that,” Gabriel nodded at the weapon, “laying around?”
Nate righted himself and shrugged. “I’m a Zelda fan.”
“Ah.” Gabriel nodded. “And the noise you just made?”
“That was my battle cry.”
“Really?” Gabriel winced as he took a step forward. “It sounded more like the cry of a wounded animal. A cat, maybe. Or a small monkey.”
“Shut up.” Nate looked at Gabriel’s bleeding torso. “Are you okay?”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Awry
“He pulled his hand back, aware now that sweat beaded on his forehead and that Rale watched him, his eyes dark, intense. Errol licked his lips. Did he want a drink? He hadn't gone more than two days in a row without a drink since he was...since...Warrel...the quarry...stone.”
― Patrick W. Carr, quote from A Cast of Stones
“To go to sleep one night with your child nestled inside you and wake up the next with no evidence your child ever existed is like waking up in a nightmare that never ends.”
― Cassia Leo, quote from Bring Me Home
“There are times,” he said to Anna, “when our victories have a cost that we did not foresee, when winning brings us loss.”
― Susanna Kearsley, quote from The Firebird
“If I could undo my past for you, McKenzie, I would. But I don’t have that power. No fae does.”
― Sandy Williams, quote from The Shattered Dark
On Heroes and Tombs
Buffering: Unshared...
Slaughterhouse-five:...
Kraken
Letters to the Lost
AlkimistBookQuoters 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.
