The House On The Strand Quotes
"The very fact that you can move without sensation is half the wonder."
"To breathe was a joy never yet experienced for its own sake."
"The waters of the narrow channel rippled swift and blue over the sand."
"Just to breathe was a joy never yet experienced for its own sake, having some quality of magic that I had not sensed before."
"I longed to stretch out my hand and lay it on the pony's flank, but I remembered Magnus's warning."
"The whole altered landscape spread itself before my eyes."
"Smoke rose from these humble dwellings, but not from any chimneys, from some hole in the thatch."
"Best not talk about the flesh before the Bishop's visit."
"I realised, from the silence at the other end of the line, that this piece of information was totally unexpected."
"The truth is, I was brought up a Catholic, and went to school at Stonyhurst, and I seem to remember we used to attach a certain importance to Saint Martin's Eve..."
"Old customs cling. Do you ever have a fair on the village green?"
"I wondered if he thought me mad, or merely one of Professor Lane's more eccentric friends."
"When I lie I like to base the lie on a foundation of fact, for it appeases not only conscience but a sense of justice."
"If only Vita had disliked flying and had chosen to come by sea it would have given me several more days..."
"I thought to myself that if I drove into the hedge I was done for."
"The people who to him were puppets of a bygone age were alive for me."
"I wondered how it was that standing here on the steps, watching yet invisible, I could so feel myself involved."
"Victory is assured if action is swift and power seized overnight."
"Parliament now sits at Nottingham, and it is planned to seize the King—with all care for his safety, naturally—until he comes of age."
"Come north with me, if you will, but if not, then promise to swear allegiance to Queen Isabella when word comes from Nottingham that we hold the King."
"For my part I say yes, and gladly, and will ride with you."
"We'll swear allegiance when the moment comes, but we'll swear it at home, not across the Tamar."
"By supporting the Queen now we strike a blow for peace."
"Never before had I felt such a sense of unity."
"To be bound, yet free; to be alone, yet in their company; to be born in my own time yet living, unknown, in theirs."
"The tide is flooding across the ford. We must cross the valley by Trefrengy and Lampetho."
"The rest of me was wet as well, jacket, head, for it was raining—it had probably been raining when I left Kilmarth almost an hour and a half ago."
"I've never felt more normal in my life. I was determined to take a trip, and that was that."
"One thing was certain. As soon as Bill and Diana had gone I should have to telephone Magnus."
"I have never known you perspire from exercise before."
"There was something odd about all this. I have a feeling you know more than you say."
"I do think you ought to drive down to Par. He might be in some pub getting blind to the world."
"It's not a job for the police. It's this chap's son I'm thinking of."
"I don't know what it is, darling, but it worries me. You're moody, distrait, as if you had something on your mind all the time."
"If he'd done that, he would have telephoned, or left a message with the chap in the booking-office."
"I've never seen you perspire from exercise before."
"If you get bitten by the past, whether you're a historian, archaeologist, or even a surveyor, it's like a fever in the blood; you never rest content until you've solved the problem before you."
"Death was not instantaneous. He had strength enough to drag himself a few yards to the hut. The head blow was sufficient to cause severe concussion, but actual death from hemorrhage probably took place five to ten minutes afterwards."
"I believe now, which I did not know at the time, that he was trying to locate the one-time manor of Strickstenton in Lanlivery parish."
"I'll rather take myself outdoors and perish. With the country covered as it is today I'd freeze the sooner."
"It was my home now. The place belonged to me, as it had once belonged to Magnus. The strain that had been upon me through the day began to lift, and the weight of depression, too."
"The world all about me was suddenly white, no lush green summer grass, no line of trees, and the snow fell steadily, blotting the hills from sight."
"Time, in this other world, had hitherto been calculated by the height of the sun in the sky, or, as when I traversed the Lampetho valley at night, by the stars overhead."
"Self-preservation is common to all living things, linked perhaps to that older brain which Magnus said forms part of our natural inheritance."
"Once I lose Margaret, there is nothing left."
"I stood there, shaking, the strands of wire between me and the line, and it was not snow that blanketed the opposite hills and the high bank, but the grey canvas hangings looped to the wagons of the goods-train as it rattled and lumbered through the tunnel."
"the layman will accept anything if it is put forward in an authoritative enough fashion."
"I can't thank you enough for your evidence. What Magnus would have called a remarkable performance."
"Having worked in a publishing firm for over twenty years I know something about the game, and might even turn author myself."
"Truth is the hardest thing to put across, to other people, to oneself as well."
"I did love Vita, for moments shared during months and years, for all those ups and downs of married life that can be precious, exasperating, monotonous, and dear."
"I'll take any plunge you want, if you'll take me with you."
"The plain truth is that she lacks not only a husband but a man as well, and Roger has had his belly-full and will oblige no more."
"You mean you have given up all idea of taking the directorship Joe offered you in New York?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," I said, "and at the moment I don't care."
"I can take anger any day and feel justified in returning blow for blow. Not unhappiness, not tears."
"This is my house, and what I do with it is my affair."
"Why don't you take your tape-measure, and think up some bright ideas for curtains and carpets?"