The Quotes I Love to Love
Just a short one today to share with you some quotes I’ve found and love:
“Lucy’s eyes in form and colour; but Lucy’s eyes unclean and full of hell-fire” – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
“[…] the white door opened just a crack. A face looked out at me. It was a small, wise face, as alert and poised as a question” – Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
“I lost hold of the fact that I wasn’t alone, must have briefly forgotten Avalyn and Patches and the cow beside me, because I started crying. I tried to hold it, but the sob broke like glass in my throat” Scott Heim’s Mysterious Skin
“If similes do their job well enough they turn into something else. We tell the truth best by telling lies” – China Mieville’s Embassytown
And just because I can, and because I think it’s such a beautiful passage, here is one final, albeit long quote, also from Embassytown. This is probably more touching once you read the book because the context of the situation is clearer so you can realise the significance of a lot of little things here, but I just wanted to share it with you – perhaps it will pique your interest and tempt you to read it (I cannot recommend it enough).
“More floors down I heard someone calling my name. I stopped. It was Cal, or Vin, in the entrance to the stairwell. He blocked my way and stared at me.
‘I heard you were around here,’ he said. He was alone. I frowned. His aloneness continued. He took my hands. It was months since we’d spoken. I kept looking around him and I kept frowning. ‘I don’t know where he is,’ he said. ‘Close, I’m sure. He’ll be here soon. I heard you were here.’ This was the one I’d meant to wake. He stared with a desperation that made me shudder. I looked down to avoid his eyes and saw something I could barely believe.
‘You turned off your link.’ I said. Its lights were off. I stared at it.
‘I was looking for you, because …’ He ran out of anything to say and his voice got to me. I touched his arm. He looked so suddenly needful that I couldn’t help pitying him.
‘What’s been happening to you? I said. Bad enough for me, but the Ambassadors had become abruptly nothing.
In the corridor behind him his doppel appeared. ‘You’re talking to her?’ he said. He tried to grab his brother, who didn’t take his eyes from me but shook his doppel off. ‘Come on‘.
They weren’t equalised. As with MagDa, I could see differences. They whispered an altercation and the newcomer backed away.
‘Cal.’ The first man, the half who had sought me out, said, looking at me. ‘Cal.’ He pointed at his brother, at the other end of the corridor. He prodded his own chest with his thumb. ‘Vin.’
I knew this look of longing wasn’t, or wasn’t just, for me. I met it. Vin walked backwards to join his brother, looking at me for several seconds before he turned.”
I cant help it, I just love that section. The Ambassadors in the novel are clones/doppels. Not quite twins, but CalVin are the only doppels who act like it. We never know throughout any of the novel which doppel is which. The one we here learn is called Vin is infatuated with Avice during the book, and this is the only time we see him reveal which one he is. This is quite a personal scene. Especially as his link is turned off. The link allows the doppels to keep track of where each other are, but for this private conversation, the only time Vin and Avice are alone in the book, he turns it off so that his brother doesn’t instantly know where his is. This is also the last time Vin and Avice ever see each other. Again I reiterate that context makes this scene more moving, which is why I practically beg you to invest in this. It will be worth your time and money.
What are some of your favourite quotes? Leave them in the comments if you have any to share!
Jigokucho 