Black Chalk Quotes
"I am a hermit, as pale as my bones, as hairy as sackcloth."
"Whether I win or lose, I hope this story will serve as my warning to the world."
"Perhaps biting your tongue was the only thing that kept the worst parts of you hidden from the world."
"To the consenting person, no injury is done."
"Why else do you think we call ourselves the human race?"
"A game of balances. Work, play. Wake, sleep. Stimulant, narcotic."
"I could tell that perhaps behind my teenage mask there was someone worth looking at."
"I only scraped through because I think Professor Jacks, my law tutor, is some sort of undercover Marxist on his own mission to even up the score. So I got lucky."
"If I shaved off my hair you’d see thousands of scars left by hundreds of pairs of Doc Martens on my scalp."
"The only topic of conversation the warden has any interest in is what your father does for a living."
"They were the brightest of the blooms that had sprung from the harshest soils, like a long-distance runner from Kenya who had trained in the dust with no shoes."
"And then he says to Elizabeth, and high abite your father?’"
"He worked for the Post Office so they’ll imagine him plodding the streets with a sack slung over his shoulder."
"That’s right,’ said Emilia, ‘and next time you call me blondie I’ll punch you in the face."
"He’s fine now. It took a while but he’s working at last. He fits kitchens. On and off. But the fight destroyed my parents’ marriage."
"I’m just trying to separate the truth from the student bullshit."
"I don’t know for sure. But Rory said there were at least a couple of Cs at the beginning, maybe three."
"It’s just he’s not right for... I’ll explain later."
"It’s my room,’ said Jolyon. ‘And anyway, you’re welcome to sit here if you like."
"But your choice of colour was so much more apt, Cassandra."
"But I think it is clear I must proceed with some caution."
"If you could take careful aim at another player’s weaknesses, his or her innermost fears, then this would bring a whole new dimension to the Game."
"I am particles and I hum, my whole body set in a gentle vibrato."
"This cannot have slipped your mind a second time. To forget once may be regarded as a misfortune; to forget twice looks like carelessness!"
"Oh, Jolyon, I feel terribly upset by the hurtful allegation of trespass."
"Every friendship requires a structure, don’t you think? Even if most of the rules remain forever unseen."
"You are utterly sweet and I feel truly blessed having you back in my life."
"I was raised by books, Jolyon, a pack of writers weaned me, like Mowgli brought up by his wolves."
"His trust is the pressed willow bark, camphor, eucalyptus and menthol. His faith motherwort for the fluttering heart and berries and herbs quintessential." - CDXCIX (Jolyon) by Dee
"The family that plays together stays together." - CDXCIX (Jolyon) by Dee
"The true gambler plays for the thrill, the sheer ecstasy of taking part. And the purest thrill comes not from the idea of winning but from the fear of defeat, from there being something real and valuable on the line. If there’s nothing to lose, then where’s the thrill?" - Middle
"There is a difference between success and love, and so it seems that the reason why I could never give up writing seriously is this: I write not because I want to sell but because I want to be loved. I want to be wholly adored." - Narrator
"Love, salve, saved." - CDXCIX (Jolyon) by Dee
"And when we clean the slate, her smooth dark face is powdered white, our words are but a trace." - 'Clean Slate' by Dee
"Life should have been so much better to us, Jolyon." - Dee
"Don't tell me you're not Oscar fucking Wilde, don't you?" - Jack to David
"So I will not go down in the water. And I will not go down in the air. And I will not go down in the fire. And I will not go down in the earth." - CDXCIX (Jolyon) by Dee
"You’re such a man. You never ask any questions, it’s all just jokes and more jokes."
"Sometimes it felt like we’d cut ourselves off completely from the rest of the world."
"We all chose to play, Jolyon. What happened to Mark wasn’t in any way your fault."
"I suppose everyone’s now heard tell of the £250 million family fortune the honourable Nick stands to inherit."
"But you have to let me have just one thing. Because if you don’t… Jolyon, what just happened was terrible and I’m sorry, I swear I mean that."
"We were their game, Jolyon. They were playing and we were just their little pieces."
"There’s nothing they can do to you. Nothing at all."
"No one ever asked me. No one ever said to me, Jolyon, did you kill Mark?"
"And now I see his face every morning, every day."
"We killed him. We all killed him and now it’s over."
"I’m not quitting, Chad. I’m not quitting. I won’t."
"This isn’t the end, Jolyon, this is nowhere near the end."
"Gravity, nine-point-eight. Time, two and a quarter. And the eyes very suddenly shut."
"Going and seeing your mother doesn’t mean your father’s won, Chad. Anyway, I promised her I’d pass on the message."
"Just before he left Game Soc, he said to me it’s possible we would be told things. Not about Game Soc but something much larger."
"I thought about what he said every time I opened one of those letters in green pen."
"Truthfully? I think perhaps it gave me a secret thrill. It was as if the whole thing were an adventure."
"You an American, me now a Brit. It’s almost as if we swapped places."
"Good people do good things, good people do bad things, bad people do worse things. What more is there?"
"Everything’s going to be all right. I promise, Dee."
"There’s nothing left for you to be afraid of any more."
"I don’t know what an ideal childhood is but I know until that Wednesday, one hot yellow day of 1982, I believed I was living it."
"The world’s greatest backyard for an adventurous boy."
"What does it mean to watch? When a crime takes place in front you, what is watching? Is it a failure to act or is it simply keeping your eyes open?"
"The only things I know about the world I got from reading books."
"Her morning grog, he calls it, like living with a drunken sailor."