Literary Quotes

[Vanillaphant]

I was wondering if people had any favourite literary quotes. Or maybe just a sentence they came across recently that made them sit up and take notice, for whatever reason.

I've been giving H. P. Lovecraft (American horror writer from 1920s/30s) a go recently. One of his short stories contained the following little beauty: "For the winged fungus-beings to carry the brain-cylinders intact through space was an easy matter."

lol

Obviously it made perfect sense in the context of the story... But it wasn't until I came across that particular sentence that I thought, "Hmm... Now you mention it, this is some pretty weird shit I'm reading here..." lol It just pleased me for some reason!

Anyone?

 

[Leshy]

I don't support a literal reading of this passage from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, but when I read it years ago it struck me as a revelation of how some people really dig in psychologically to cope with defeat, hardship, and tribulation. It is spoken by the anti-hero Satan character after being banished to Hell following a failed rebellion in Heaven. It has stuck with me since.

"Farewell happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n."

 

[Leshy]

PS Vanillaphant, have you read any Lovecraft stories with the Night Gaunt creatures? They appeared in a couple of different Lovecraft works. As I recall they were some sort of winged monster that would pick up poor souls and carry them off. Their method of keeping the victims in check was tickling them until they stopped struggling. Just thought it was apropos to mention that on this tickling forum since you brought up Lovecraft in the first place.

 

[TheGerbilSystem]

Oh man. So many great lines out there, but the one that has resonated with me the most comes from The Sound and the Fury:

"it is hard believing to think that a love or a sorrow is a bond purchased without design and which matures willynilly and is recalled without warning to be replaced by whatever issue the Gods happen to be floating at the time no you will not do that until you come to believe that even she was not quite worth despair"

That's a common-enough sentiment, I guess, but Faulkner articulates it better than 99% of the population ever could (and, FWIW, it comes off that much better in context). I also think I remember it fondly because so much of that book (especially the section this quotation comes from) is hard to understand on the first go-around. So when you read the parts that have a relatively clear meaning and make you think you're at least kind of starting to understand what's going on, it really hits home.

 

[Vanillaphant]

@Leshy
Thanks for saving this thread from possible oblivion!

I won't even attempt to say something intelligent about that Paradise Lost excerpt. There once was a man from Nantucket... is more my sort of level when it comes to poetry. lol

And no, I'd never heard of the Night Gaunt creatures (and their propensity for tickling!). You'd think it'd make their victims struggle more, would you not...? lol That's a cool thing to know, though. I plan to read more Lovecraft, so perhaps I'll encounter them soon!

@TheGerbilSystem
Thanks for the reply!

 

[Bator]

"But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, it's bloom is shed,
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white -- then melts forever."

From Tam o' Shanter - Robert "Rabbie" Burns

My personal favorite is William Wordworths's Ode: Imitations Of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood, I couldn't choose just one quote from it though. We visited his grave site at St. Oswald's churchyard in Grasmere, Cumbria, England as well as the Robert Burns Memorial in Edinburgh while I was back home this past May.

 

[Vanillaphant]

Hopefully people won't mind this little bump! Came across this the other day and wanted to share it.

"If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon."

(George Orwell writing about Adolf Hitler in 1940.)

Burn! lol

 

[chicago]

I am loving Sappho's poetry lately.

"I would much prefer to see the lovely
way she walks and the radiant glance of her face
than the war-chariots of the Lydians or
their footsoldiers in arms."

"Like a sweet-apple
turning red
high
on the tip
of the topmost branch.
Forgotten by pickers.
Not forgotten -
they couldn't reach it."

"and your enticing laughter -
that indeed has stirred up the heart in my breast.
For whenever I look at you even briefly
I can no longer say a single thing,
but my tongue is frozen in silence;
instantly a delicate flame runs beneath my skin;
with my eyes I see nothing;
my ears make a whirring noise.
A cold sweat covers me,
trembling seizes my body,
and I am greener than grass.
Lacking but little of death do I seem."

 

[The Internet]

Hopefully people won't mind this little bump! Came across this the other day and wanted to share it.

"If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon."

(George Orwell writing about Adolf Hitler in 1940.)

Burn! lol

Yup! You could apply that to lots of politicians actually!

I am loving Sappho's poetry lately.

"I would much prefer to see the lovely
way she walks and the radiant glance of her face
than the war-chariots of the Lydians or
their footsoldiers in arms."

"Like a sweet-apple
turning red
high
on the tip
of the topmost branch.
Forgotten by pickers.
Not forgotten -
they couldn't reach it."

"and your enticing laughter -
that indeed has stirred up the heart in my breast.
For whenever I look at you even briefly
I can no longer say a single thing,
but my tongue is frozen in silence;
instantly a delicate flame runs beneath my skin;
with my eyes I see nothing;
my ears make a whirring noise.
A cold sweat covers me,
trembling seizes my body,
and I am greener than grass.
Lacking but little of death do I seem."

That is beautiful, and apt, as usual.

I love how she says that the apple was forgotten by pickers, but then revises herself "Not forgotten! They couldn't reach it!"

And the last stanza.....that's what it can feel like, at least for me, falling in love with someone who's ticklish.......

(The Robert Burns poem is beautiful too, Bator!)

I have something I want to post, but I have to fish it out, lest I miss a comma.....

 

[chicago]

The last one is how I feel around female lers. I just freeze lol

 

[Vanillaphant]

@chicago
Thanks for the reply! I did not dislike that Sappho excerpt. Which is about as good as it gets for me, what with my irrational aversion to poetry. lol

 

[Helena]

I am loving Sappho's poetry lately.

"I would much prefer to see the lovely
way she walks and the radiant glance of her face
than the war-chariots of the Lydians or
their footsoldiers in arms."

"Like a sweet-apple
turning red
high
on the tip
of the topmost branch.
Forgotten by pickers.
Not forgotten -
they couldn't reach it."

"and your enticing laughter -
that indeed has stirred up the heart in my breast.
For whenever I look at you even briefly
I can no longer say a single thing,
but my tongue is frozen in silence;
instantly a delicate flame runs beneath my skin;
with my eyes I see nothing;
my ears make a whirring noise.
A cold sweat covers me,
trembling seizes my body,
and I am greener than grass.
Lacking but little of death do I seem."

That is really beautiful. Thank you for posting it.

 

[chicago]

That is really beautiful. Thank you for posting it.

Couldn't help myself especially with the last piece

I recently discovered a new poet named Nikita Gill and she is wonderful.

The Dreamcatcher

Some people are like
beautiful dreamcatchers,
absorbing the most terrible things
for those they love
and leaving them
only the softest, gentlest
thoughts behind.

--------------------------------------

Pretty Isn't A Word

Stop calling her pretty. She isn't 'pretty'.
Pretty doesn't even begin to describe her.
She is so much more than that.
She is kind hearted and heartbroken,
gentle and dangerous,
an angel one day and a she devil the next,
intelligent yet silly,
hilariously funny yet devastatingly sad,
she is passion personified as a human being.
Pretty isn't even close.
She's a supernova that trails stardust in her wake,
a constellation of contraditions plucked from outer space.
And all you can think to call her is 'pretty'.

-----------------------------------------------------

Disaster Training

How to become a storm:

Love yourself so much
that you laugh with pity in the face
of anyone who tries to throw cruelty
and negativity in your face.

How to start a wildfire:

Encourage other women
with the hearts of lionesses
like yours
to do the same.

 

[Vanillaphant]

As she looked up on discovering me in her midst, her face was shining like the seat of a bus-driver's trousers, and it wouldn't have surprised me much if she had started yodelling. Her whole aspect was that of an aunt who on honeydew has fed and drunk the milk of Paradise, and the thought crossed my mind that if she was feeling as yeasty as this before hearing the good news, she might quite easily, when I spilled same, explode with a loud report.

- P. G. Wodehouse

Genius.

 

[The Internet]

As she looked up on discovering me in her midst, her face was shining like the seat of a bus-driver's trousers, and it wouldn't have surprised me much if she had started yodelling. Her whole aspect was that of an aunt who on honeydew has fed and drunk the milk of Paradise, and the thought crossed my mind that if she was feeling as yeasty as this before hearing the good news, she might quite easily, when I spilled same, explode with a loud report.

- P. G. Wodehouse

Genius.

Now that's what I call writing!!!

 

[The Internet]

I can't find my copy of "Malone Dies", so here's a little joke courtesy of Samuel Beckett (from "Endgame")"

An Englishman, needing a pair of striped trousers in a hurry for the New Year festivities, goes to his tailor who takes his measurements.

"That's the lot, come back in four days, I'll have it ready." Good. Four days later.

"So sorry, come back in a week, I've made a mess of the seat." Good, that's all right, a neat seat can be very ticklish.

A week later.

"Frightfully sorry, come back in ten days, I've made a hash of the crotch." Good, can't be helped, a snug crotch is always a teaser. Ten days later.

"Dreadfully sorry, come back in a fortnight, I've made a balls of the fly." Good, at a pinch, a smart fly is a stiff proposition.

Well, to make it short, the bluebells are blowing and he ballockses the buttonholes.

"God damn you to hell, Sir, no, it's indecent, there are limits! In six days, do you hear me, six days, God made the world. Yes Sir, no less Sir, the WORLD! And you are not bloody well capable of making me a pair of trousers in three months!"

[so the tailor replies:]

"But my dear Sir, my dear Sir, look— (disdainful gesture, disgustedly) —at the world— and look— (loving gesture, proudly) —at my TROUSERS!"

 

[IrvingKrebb]

"She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture." -- Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand.

 

[The Internet]

"She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture." -- Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand.

Now THAT'S a woman, lol. And a hell of a sentence, great one Irving. He makes it seem so easy, right? lol