In The Skin Of A Lion Quotes
"Sometimes, he knows, this collection of strangers will meet the cows being brought in from a pasture barn for milking and there will be a hushed politeness as they stand to the side of the road holding up the lanterns."
"The farmer who follows the cows nods. He passes this strange community most mornings during the winter months, the companionship a silent comfort to him in the dark of five A.M."
"The boy who witnesses this procession, and who even dreams about it, has also watched the men working a mile away in the grey trees."
"Neither the boy nor his father have ever been into those dark rooms, into a warmth which is the odour of men."
"The only connection the loggers have with the town is when they emerge to skate along the line of river, on homemade skates, the blades made of old knives."
"For the boy the end of winter means a blue river, means the disappearance of these men."
"Later, he walks through the dark living room, his hand stretched out in front of him, and returns the book to a shelf."
"From across the fields they will have seen this one lighted room and travelled towards it. A summer night’s inquiry."
"Throughout the summer he records their visits and sketches the repeaters. Is it the same creature?"
"He was born into a region which did not appear on a map until 1910, though his family had worked there for twenty years and the land had been homesteaded since 1816."
"His father works for two or three farms, cutting wood, haying, herding cattle."
"They do not miss it for two hours and then his father guesses where it has gone."
"In the house Hazen Lewis lights the naphtha lamp and builds a fire. The boy shivers during dinner and the father tells the boy he can sleep with him."
"In winter months Patrick carried meals into the acreage north of the creek where his father, solitary, cut timber all day, minute in those white halls."
"He had secured a role for himself in the industry that took place along the Depot Lakes and the Napanee River."
"The bridge goes up in a dream. It will link the east end with the centre of the city."
"The bridge. Christened "Prince Edward." The Bloor Street Viaduct."
"On the west side of the bridge is Bloor Street, on the east side is Danforth Avenue."
"Nicholas Temelcoff is famous on the bridge, a daredevil. He is given all the difficult jobs and he takes them."
"The event that will light the way for immigration in North America is the talking picture."
"Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human."
"All day long as he cuts into the leather his mind moves over the few details she has given him about her life."
"They were always breaking up. He thought his life was too complicated."
"I have taught you that the sky in all its zones is mortal."
"You believe in solitude, Patrick, in retreat."
"Only the best art can order the chaotic tumble of events."
"He loves the tableau, even though being asleep he had not witnessed the ceremony."
"I don’t think I’m big enough to put someone in a position where they have to hurt another."
"I love Clara. I miss her. She made me sane for all those years. That was important for what I am now."
"He wants everything of Alice to be with him here in this room as if she is not dead."
"All these fragments of memory... so we can retreat from the grand story and stumble accidentally upon a luxury."
"He is a citizen here, in the present, successful with his own bakery."
"This is what history means. He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light."
"He lay in bed looking at the light of the moon in the bones of the fire escape."
"Let me now re-emphasize the extreme looseness of the structure of things."
"He is one island over from last night’s fire, hiding now in this garden, unseen among the blind, till nightfall."
"The next morning Caravaggio explored the shoreline around the cottage in a canoe."
"She pins the earring her fingers had strayed upon into his arm muscle, beginning a tattoo of blood."
"All she can see as she enters the dark hall is the whiteness of the milk, a sacred stone in his hands, disappearing into his body."
"There is an image of Caravaggio among the rich which Patrick will always remember: meticulous, rude, and confident."
"He could smell soaps in her hair. Her wrist moves up his arm riding on the sweat."
"The taste of the other. A bazaar of muscles and flavours."
"He carries nothing but the jewellery pinned to his arm, a footstep of blood on his shoulder."
"Let me tell you about the rich – they have a way of laughing."
"Can a man lose his balance with an erection? Deep thoughts."
"I want the heart of the place. I want to step in and destroy meticulously, efficiently."
"King Solomon’s Mines. He smiles up in the darkness."
"You don’t understand power. You don’t like power, you don’t respect it, you don’t want it to exist but you move around it all the time."
"In a rich man’s house there is nowhere to spit except in his face."
"You’re as much of the fabric as the aldermen and the millionaires. But you’re among the dwarfs of enterprise who never get accepted or acknowledged."
"He got up and ran, her blood on him, along the horrified corridor in the crowd."
"He looked into the face of Temelcoff who held him and wouldn’t let go."
"He lay down to sleep, until he was woken from out of a dream."