Across The Nightingale Floor Quotes

The less people think of you, the more they will reveal to you or in your presence.

But just as the river is always at the door, so is the world always outside. And it is in the world that we have to live.

How was it possible for the world to be so beautiful and so cruel at the same time?

I believe the test of government is the contentment of the people.

When illusions are shattered by truth, talent is set free.

The painter had achieved what we would all like to do: capture time and make it stand still

It's what you do to yourself when you go mad with rage. You have no idea how much you can hurt yourself with your own strength.

Don't you know the man whose life you spare will always hate you?

I learned embroidery," Kaede said, "But you can't kill anyone with a needle." "You can," Shizuka said offhandedly. "I'll show you one day.

Shame, however, was what I felt seeping through me as though it stained my white bones black.

The world is always outside. And it is in the world that we must live.

Death comes suddenly and life is fragile and brief. No one can alter this, either by prayers or spells. Children cry about it, but men and women do not cry. They have to endure.

Why do women have to suffer this way? Why don’t we have the freedom men have?

Power brings its own legitimacy.

I have no fear of death," Shigeru replied. "But it is wrong to say I am in love with it. Quite the opposite: I think I've proved how much I love life.

They reminded me of the people of my village, their indomitable spirit in the face of disaster, their unshakable belief that no matter what might befall them, life was basically good and the world benign.

But at that moment Revenge took me as a pupil. I recognized her at once and learned her lessons instantly. She was what I desired; she would save me from the feeling that I was a living ghost. In that split second I took her into my heart.

The door banged open, bringing with it a rush of cold night air. Dried leaves scudded inside, dancing across the floor, plastering themselves like tiny black hands to the stones of the fireplace. The flames within shivered and thinned. The door slammed shut.

I did not want to spend the night on the lonely plain. I was afraid of ten thousand ghosts, and of the ogres and goblins that dwelled in the forest around it. The murmur of a stream sounded to me like the voice of the water spirit, and every time a fox barked or an owl hooted I came awake, my pulse racing.

Cuando era niño, solía llevar a casa animales del bosque (…) Nunca logré domesticarlos, porque lo único que querían, ciega e irracionalmente, era escapar.

On some nights the full moon rises above the skylight and floods the atrium with cold light. On those nights Molly turns all the electric lights off, including the Emergency Exit signs, even though I’ve told her she’s not supposed to, and glides around the atrium and the balconies in weird random patterns. I’d got so used to it that I could walk down from my room to the kitchen, looking for a snack, without paying any attention to the silent shadow that darts here and there—always in the periphery of my sight. The first such moonlit night after Foxglove joined us I was out in search of a nightcap when I realized that Nightingale was standing on the upper balcony. Silently he beckoned me over and pointed down to the atrium floor. Below I saw Molly flit across the tiles, her hair streaming out behind her like a shadow. Behind her came a second figure, Foxglove, dressed in a loose silk shift that looked blood red in the moonlight. In her right hand she trailed a long ribbon of white fabric. Then Molly turned, grabbed Foxglove around the waist, and swept her around in a circle—the white fabric looping around them as they spun in place. I don’t how long we watched them dance, silent but for the swoosh of their clothes and Foxglove’s streamer, but when they finally vanished into shadows I heard Nightingale sigh. “Here’s a comforting thought for you, Peter,” he said. “However long you may live, the world will never lose its ability to surprise you with its beauty.