Shades Of Grey Quotes
"It began with my father not wanting to see the Last Rabbit and ended up with my being eaten by a carnivorous plant."
"I didn’t set out to discover a truth. I was actually sent to the Outer Fringes to conduct a chair census and learn some humility. But the truth inevitably found me, as important truths often do, like a lost thought in need of a mind."
"Despite her name, constancy is possibly her least well-defined attribute."
"Curiosity is a descending stair—that leads to only who-knows-where."
"What you got was what you were, forever. Your life, career and social standing decided right there and then, and all worrisome life uncertainties eradicated forever."
"The disruptive were always flagged early by six-monthly reviews of merit tally and feedback. If the system was working, she would long ago have been spirited away to Reboot to learn some manners."
"There is always something ineffably sad about a Fallen Yellow—perhaps because Yellows hated them more than they hated us."
"Friendship offered from an unexpected source can be the truest form, regardless of past prejudices."
"Conducting a chair census might seem a pointless task, yet even in the mundane, there can be purpose and a lesson in humility."
"The farther, the better. I was expected there a week ago."
"A bit of humility reassignment in the Outer Fringes might be good for me."
"The best Greys are the ones who catch the Mildew the morning of their retirement."
"Every square yard of linoleum you've ever walked on would have been produced here."
"Fine man, Mr. Ochre. We haven’t lost a single resident to the Mildew for seven years. And he wasn’t hue-specific, if you know what I mean."
"There's more to good or bad than what's written in the Rulebook."
"The predictability of the Rules and their unquestioning compliance and application is the bedrock of—"
"All those words, so diligently placed together, and so pointlessly torn apart."
"Successive Leapbacks had stripped the shelves of science, history, biography, geography, cookery, self-help, poetry, art—and now fiction, genre by genre."
"You worry too much, Eddie. I'll figure out something before Monday."
"If there's a tiger in the room, I want to be the one that combs its whiskers."
"The big difference was, Chromatics were allowed in the Greyzone—but thought it wiser to stay away."
"If you tried to kiss either, you’d get bitten on the face."
"In the seething pit of sewage that is East Carmine, being the second pillow to the Yellow prefect-in-waiting is something of a coup."
"You may hate living under Munsell, but it has sustained for almost five centuries."
"Doubt is good. It's an emotion we can build on. Perhaps if we feed it with curiosity it will blossom into something useful, like suspicion—and action."
"Despite what you read in Munsell, those aren't the only choices. We deserve better than this. All of us."
"No, you don't. Believe me, cozy ignorance is the best place for people like you."
"They have three permanent servants and a Leapback-compliant gyrocar."
"The union is not quite as inevitable as I make out."
"Looks like she’s hedging her ballroom bets as wisely as her bedroom ones."
"If you want to attempt such foolhardy stunts, you should conduct them in your retirement when your Civil Obligation is at an end."
"No one was immune, not even the wisest prefect or sagest Colorman."
"The earth is awash with silent musical energy."
"Everyone is expected to act with all due regard for the well-being of others."
"Life should be seen not as a two-hundred-yard hurdle with a tape to reach before anyone else, but more like a relay race without end, and only one team."
"Grasses and wildflowers had germinated in pockets of windblown soil, and brambles snaked and coiled without encumbrance."
"Artifacture from before the Something That Happened may be collected, so long as it does not appear on the Leapback list or possess color above 23 percent saturation."
"At night it would hardly be night, and fear would be banished."
"I don’t suppose there’s any point asking how you got here?"
"Two days ago he was a friend. This time next month he’ll be tallow, methane and bonemeal."
"I’m here, aren’t I? How could I have known Zane lived here?"
"Any resident who has even been indirectly exposed to Mildew must follow quarantine procedures."
"Unnecessary sharpening of pencils constitutes a waste of public resources, and will be punished as appropriate."
"Pocket handkerchiefs are to be changed daily, and are to be kept folded, even when in the pocket. Handkerchiefs may be patterned."
"Rouge of my heart, intertwined with double-hued destiny, Thread of my thoughts, constant and rubicund legacy, Filament of my future, endeared unto my expectation, Cord of my emotion, seared with eternal elation."
"Love isn’t sensible, Red. I think that’s the point."
"Every pupil in the Collective will leave school with above-average abilities."
"So I threatened to kill you. What’s the big deal?"
"You might have something there. It could have been a bit rude of me. But let’s face it, you are a bit pointless, and the world will certainly carry on spinning without you."
"I’d sooner stick a bodkin through my tongue."
"There is no right or wrong, only the Rulebook makes it so."
"Technically speaking, it’s not his daughter."
"When I hear stuff like that it makes me proud to be in retailing."
"I’m going to need a half pound of pudding rice."
"But since you don’t technically exist, there can’t be any embarrassment, either."
"The closest thing you’ll ever get to meeting the Oracle."
"First, time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted."
"Almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon."
"There is no problem on earth that can’t be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea."
"Without the stabilizing hand of Munsell’s Chromatic ideology, we would be like them—ignorant, filthy and bestial."
"The sooner we deal with the Riffraff problem once and for all, the sooner we can sleep safe in our beds at night."
"I’ve noticed that in an area of strong harmonics, a floatie will rise a good two or three extra inches."
"I always drop by. It’s quite amusing, really—and the food is generally good."
"Under no circumstances farther than the Outer Markers."
"The safest course was actually the simplest—do nothing at all and hope everything turned out for the best."
"Perhaps I should just lie back and think of the linoleum."
"With all the unanswered questions kicking around, the arrival of a strange man strapped to a metal chair is of little significance."
"Knowing where the Fallen Man came from will not substantially alter our lives."
"The night was quite simply the night: an empty time, a hole in your life."
"Absolutely not. Robin’s death benefits no one."
"You seem like a vaguely okay person—for a Red."
"We get thrashed, but we put up a fair show for ourselves."
"All these questions are not going to make you smart or worldly-wise or any better off. They’re going to make you dead."
"It wouldn’t be the boys-versus-girls match if we didn’t shatter a few shinbones and hand out a concussion or two."
"Russett here is clearly an irresponsible, oafish hub-dweller."
"I can think of at least eighty-seven worse things," I told her, "beginning with yellowless custard."
"No excuses, sir," I murmured. "I will endeavor to improve myself."
"Luckily for you," added deMauve, "you applied for a Standard Variable application, and according to the Rules, we cannot demerit you."
"I'll lead the expedition to High Saffron," I said in a loud, assertive voice.
"I didn’t want to seem a braggart," I replied, regretting that she had been there to hear me speak of it.
"You’re a passenger now, my dove—no worries from here on in."
"Finder’s fees are not permitted to be higher than 10 percent."
"Juggling shall not be practiced after 4:00 p.m."
"All residents are expected to learn a musical instrument."
"Choice is overrated," said Dad, quoting Munsell.
"You don’t see a Yellow in the Greyzone for years, and then four come along together."
"We are all blind, Master Edward—just some more than others."
"Everything might look fine and dandy on the outside, but behind the closed door there’s a fire raging."
"Then you have fulfilled all that is expected of you."
"Never underestimate the capacity for romance, no matter what the circumstance."
"I don’t exist to record your history; you exist to give me something to record."
"The path of marriage can be rocky, and I am willing to forgive you, as you will surely forgive my mother for telling that beastly Oxblood tramp where to get off."
"The menu at village tearooms shall not be deviated from."
"There’s no risk, we don’t have to do squiddly and no one has to walk their feet off—or come back dead."
"Ordinarily I might have entertained such an action."
"All I want to do is to complete the expedition."
"If you fiddle with something, it will break. Don’t."
"The pursuit of Harmony requires sacrifices from all of us."
"Your life is going to change radically in the next few hours."
"Prisons are still with us, only the walls are constructed of fear, taboo and the unknown."