“
There's no such thing as the perfect soulmate. If you meet someone and you think they're perfect, you better run as fast as you can in the other direction. 'Cos your soulmate is the person that pushes all your buttons, pisses you off on a regular basis, and makes you face your shit.
”
”
Madonna
“
I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset cos' they act like people", said Adam severely. "Anyway, if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)
“
I think I'm a tiny bit like Harry 'cos I'd like to have an owl. Yeah, that's the tiny bit, actually.
”
”
Daniel Radcliffe
“
They always gives me bath salts," complained Nobby. "And bath soap and bubble bath and herbal bath lumps and tons of bath stuff and I can't think why, 'cos it's not as if I hardly ever has a bath. You'd think they'd take the hint, wouldn't you?
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Hogfather)
“
Well. Hello. Yeh must be Harry. Hello, Harry Potter. I’m Rubeus Hagrid. And I’m gonna be yer friend whether yeh like it or not. ’Cos yeh’ve had it tough, not that yeh know it yet. An’ yer gonna need friends. Now yeh best come with me, don’t yeh think?
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Harry Potter, #8))
“
Yeah, all right, but everyone knows they torture people," mumbled Sam.
"Do they?" said Vimes. "Then why doesn't anyone do anything about it?"
"'cos they torture people.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Night Watch (Discworld, #29; City Watch, #6))
“
I'n'I nah come to fight flesh and blood,
But spiritual wickedness in 'igh and low places.
So while they fight you down,
Stand firm and give Jah thanks and praises.
'Cos I'n'I no expect to be justified
by the laws of men - by the laws of men.
Oh, true they have found me guilty,
But through - through Jah proved my innocency.
”
”
Bob Marley
“
Given that sin x = 1⁄4 and x is in Quadrant II, find the exact values of sin2 x and cos2 x WTF. He looked at this every day, and it was still like reading Chinese.
”
”
Brigid Kemmerer (Spark (Elemental, #2))
“
People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever.
”
”
Toni Morrison
“
I like the way he says ‘furthermore’,” Merrick observed quietly. “Cos you can tell he means ‘wankers’.
”
”
K.J. Charles (Flight of Magpies (A Charm of Magpies, #3))
“
And they say
She's in the class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been that way since eighteen, but lately,
Her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
Go mad for a couple grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
”
”
Ed Sheeran
“
I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)
“
I know who I am. Bloody hell, I'm getting enough bills for Karl Pilkington so I hope I am him, 'cos if I'm not, I have no idea who I'm paying for.
”
”
Karl Pilkington (An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington)
“
Wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going today?" says Pooh:
"Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.
”
”
A.A. Milne (Now We Are Six (Winnie-the-Pooh, #4))
“
cos' your hands were exploring more than Dora. I wouldn't have minded but Dora had a map and a compass so she knows where she was going. You on the other hand were like a tourist in the center of London. Lost as a fucking fiddle.
-Mia Hastings
”
”
Makeandoffer (Illegal My Ass)
“
The problem I have with all this religion stuff is that I can't relate to it. I think most people got into 'cos it gave them something to do on a Sunday, but since all the shops are now open it isn't required as much.
”
”
Karl Pilkington (An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington)
“
You're headed for disaster
cos you never read the signs
Too much love will kill you every time
”
”
Freddie Mercury
“
I want that. I want that awful intense and serious unhappiness, cos then I might feel better, and then I might be happy.
”
”
David Thewlis (The Late Hector Kipling)
“
Rose: Who are you then? Who's that lot down there? [The Doctor ignores her] I said who are they?!
The Doctor: They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a great big problem if- [he pulls a bleeping bomb out of his coat] -I didn't have this. So I'm gonna go upstairs and blow it up. And I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. You go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast. [suddenly serious] Don't tell anyone about this 'cos if you do, you'll get them killed. [closes the door] [opens it again] I'm The Doctor, by the way. What's your name?
Rose: Rose.
The Doctor: Nice to meet you, Rose. [holds up the bomb, shaking it slightly while grinning.] Run for your life!
”
”
Russell T. Davies
“
Wait for someone who bumps mouths clumsily with yours cos they’re too busy smiling to kiss you properly. Yeah. Wait for that.
”
”
Azra Tabassum
“
Come on,” he droned, “I’ve been ordered to take you down to the bridge. Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction? ’Cos I don’t.”
He turned and walked back to the hated door.
“Er, excuse me,” said Ford following after him, “which government owns this ship?”
Marvin ignored him.
“You watch this door,” he muttered, “it’s about to open again. I can tell by the intolerable air of smugness it suddenly generates.
”
”
Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1))
“
Fascists always attack minorities,
Which is an irony,
'Cos fascists are a minority.
”
”
Harry Whitewolf (Underdogs Unite)
“
You see, there's a drill:
1. I [Amy] will say 'Right then, let's go and rescue him [Rory].'
2. The Doctor will say 'Ah yes, but...'
3. And then he'll list the fourteen things that we have to do before we resuce Rory
4. And why they're all more important than rescuing Rory
5. The list normally includes wounded puppies
6. An exploding bus full of grannies
7. You know what I mean
8. So we'll go and do those instead
9. Cos they're all so important
10. And Rory has to come last.
”
”
James Goss (Doctor Who: Dead of Winter)
“
They said I would never write this book.
Well, f**k ’em – ’cos here it is.
All I have to do now is remember something...
Bollocks. I can’t remember anything.
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I Am Ozzy)
“
Don’t trust the cannibal just ’cos he’s usin’ a knife and fork!
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Carpe Jugulum (Discworld, #23; Witches, #6))
“
ya better come inside
when you're ready to
but no chance if ya don't wanna dance
you like four letter words when you're ready to
but then you won't 'cos you know that you can
”
”
Def Leppard
“
Oh, bein' young ain't easy 'cos ev'rythin' you're puzzlin'n'anxin' you're puzzlin'n'anxin' it for the first time.
”
”
David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)
“
It`s your body, use it...amuse it...`cos one day, you`re gonna lose it!
”
”
Jeff Hardy
“
And that's what I don't like about magic, Captain. 'cos it's *magic*. You can't ask questions, it's magic. It doesn't explain anything, it's magic. You don't know where it comes from, it's magic! That's what I don't like about magic, it does everything by magic!
”
”
Terry Pratchett
“
I may not want to see you porking my bestie in a live sex show, but feel free to walk round with that spank-bank-worthy tush-tush out on display… just don’t bend over, ‘cos then you’re fair game!
”
”
Tillie Cole (Eternally North (Eternally North, #1))
“
A me m'ha sempre colpito questa faccenda dei quadri. Stanno su per anni, poi senza che accada nulla, ma nulla dico, fran, giù, cadono. Stanno lì attaccati al chiodo, nessuno gli fa niente, ma loro a un certo punto, fran, cadono giù, come sassi. Nel silenzio più assoluto, con tutto immobile intorno, non una mosca che vola, e loro, fran. Non c'è una ragione. Perché proprio in quell'istante? Non si sa. Fran. Cos'è che succede a un chiodo per farlo decidere che non ne può più? C'ha un'anima, anche lui, poveretto? Prende delle decisioni? Ne ha discusso a lungo col quadro, erano incerti sul da farsi, ne parlavano tutte le sere, da anni, poi hanno deciso una data, un'ora, un minuto, un istante, è quello, fran. O lo sapevano già dall'inizio, i due, era già tutto combinato, guarda io mollo tutto tra sette anni, per me va bene, okay allora intesi per il 13 maggio, okay, verso le sei, facciamo sei meno un quarto, d'accordo, allora buonanotte, 'notte. Sette anni dopo, 13 maggio, sei meno un quarto, fran.
Non si capisce. È una di quelle cose che è meglio che non ci pensi, se no ci esci matto. Quando cade un quadro. Quando ti svegli un mattino, e non la ami più. Quando apri il giornale e leggi che è scoppiata la guerra. Quando vedi un treno e pensi io devo andarmene da qui. Quando ti guardi allo specchio e ti accorgi che sei vecchio. Quando, in mezzo all'Oceano, Novecento alzò lo sguardo dal piatto e mi disse: "A New York, fra tre giorni, io scenderò da questa nave". Ci rimasi secco. Fran.
”
”
Alessandro Baricco (Novecento. Un monologo)
“
If the mountains fell in the sea,
Let it be, it ain't me.
Got my own world to live through
And I ain't gonna copy you. Now, if 6 turned up to be 9,
I don't mind, I don't mind.
If all the hippies cut off their hair,
I don't care, I don't care.
Did, 'cos I got my own world to live through
And I ain't gonna copy you.
”
”
Jimi Hendrix
“
Destroy the Spineless. Show me it's real. Wasting our last chance to come away. Just break the silence 'cos I'm drifting away, away from you..."
~New Born
”
”
Matthew J. Bellamy
“
Sai cos'è bello, qui? Guarda: noi camminiamo, lasciamo tutte quelle orme sulla sabbia, e loro restano lì, precise, ordinate. Ma domani, ti alzerai, guarderai questa grande spiaggia e non ci sarà più nulla, un'orma, un segno qualsiasi, niente. Il mare cancella, di notte. La marea nasconde. È come se non fosse mai passato nessuno. È come se noi non fossimo mai esistiti. Se c'è un luogo, al mondo, in cui puoi non pensare a nulla, quel luogo è qui. Non è più terra, non è ancora mare. Non è vita falsa, non è vita vera. È tempo. Tempo che passa. E basta...
”
”
Alessandro Baricco
“
Lying there in the darkness, he knew he was an outcast. “ ’Cos I had some sense.
”
”
William Golding (Lord of the Flies)
“
I don't go in for ancient wisdom
I don't believe just 'cos ideas are tenacious it means they're worthy
”
”
Tim Minchin
“
We roll tonight to the guitar bite
Stand up and be counted for what you are about to receive
We are the dealers
We'll give you everything you need
Hail hail to the good times
Cos rock has got the right of way
We ain't no legends ain't no cause
We're just livin' for today
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
”
”
AC/DC
“
Perché sei qui? Perché non mi hai tolto di mezzo, quella notte?”.
“I tuoi occhi” rispose Kynk, socchiudendo i suoi.
“I miei occhi? Cos’hanno i miei occhi?” domandò Jay, sconcertato.
“Hanno tutto quello che cerco”.
”
”
Anya M. Silver (Destroy Me (Lethal Men, #2))
“
An I'll never forget the smile on my face
cos I knew where you would be
An if you're in the Crown tonight
Have a drink on me
But go easy...step lightly...stay free
-- "Stay Free
”
”
Mick Jones (The Clash Songbook)
“
... ma cos’è l’aura se non l’apparizione irripetibile di una lontananza? Cosa, se non il lato onirico delle cose, come un loro angelo nascosto?
”
”
Michele Mari (Tutto il ferro della Torre Eiffel)
“
I wear a lot of pink cos' seeing pink activates endorphins and energizes my creativity. It is a colour of femininity and fierceness
”
”
Janna Cachola
“
Take the time to make some sense for what you wanna say,
And cast your words away upon the waves.
Sail them home with acquiesce on a ship of hope today,
And as they land upon the shore,
Tell them not to fear no more.
I'm not saying right is wrong,
It's up to us to make the best of all the things that come our way.
Cos' everything that's been has past,
The answers in the looking glass.
There's four and twenty million doors
On life's endless corridor,
So say it loud and sing it proud today.
”
”
Noel Gallagher
“
Cos I fancy you. I'm hoping that if I go to all this effort you'll look at me and think, 'Well, she might be a dumbass, but she tries'. And then, I dunno, maybe you'll flash me or something.
”
”
Ciara Smyth (Not My Problem)
“
I grew up having to piss in a bucket ’cos there was no indoor shitter, and now I have these computerised Japanese super-loo things that have heated seats and wash and blow-dry your arse at the touch of a button. Give it a couple of years and I’ll have a bog with a robot arm that pulls out my turds, so I don’t have to strain.
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I Am Ozzy)
“
He knelt among the shadows and felt his isolation bitterly. They were savages it was true; but they were human and the ambushing fears of the deep night were coming on.
Ralph moaned faintly. Tired though he was, he could not relax and fall into a well of sleep for fear of the tribe. Lying there in the darkness, he knew he was an outcast.
"'Cos I had some sense.
”
”
William Golding (Lord of the Flies)
“
Così è il Mondo, così sono gli Uomini, così è l'Amore. Cos'altro siamo se non fantocci in un teatrino da fiera? Oh, Destino onnipotente tira con gentilezza i nostri fili! Abbi pietà di noi, e dalla nostra scena angusta concedici di uscire a passo di danza.
”
”
Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White)
“
At the court hearing, Howard Weitzman told the judge that if they were gonna ban ‘Suicide Solution’ and hold me responsible for some poor kid shooting himself, then they’d have to ban Shakespeare, ’cos Romeo and Juliet’s about suicide, too.
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I Am Ozzy)
“
Let the Queen do the fighting cos if you lose the King, you've lost everything.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Carpe Jugulum (Discworld, #23; Witches, #6))
“
old folks are s’pposed to like listenin’ to the sound of children playin’, I read that somewhere, I don’t see why we should get told off ’cos we’ve got the wrong kind of old folks—
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens)
“
She said Halloween is a British tradition and it has nothing to do with being a Christian. I almost said Why do you celebrate it then 'cos I always forgot she was born in England.
”
”
Annabel Pitcher (My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece)
“
I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin’ upset ’cos they act like people,
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)
“
One kid at school who never beat me up was Tony Iommi. He was in the year above me, and everyone knew him ’cos he could play the guitar.
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I am Ozzy)
“
Fu Alec a parlare per primo. "Cos'è?" chiese guardando Clary.
"E' una ragazza" disse Jace. "Sicuramente ti sarà già capitato di vederne qualcuna, Alec. Tua sorella Isabelle, ad esempio
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
“
We both had done the math. Kelly added it all up and... knew she had to let me go. I added it up, and knew that I had... lost her. 'cos I was never gonna get off that island. I was gonna die there, totally alone. I was gonna get sick, or get injured or something. The only choice I had, the only thing I could control was when, and how, and where it was going to happen. So... I made a rope and I went up to the summit, to hang myself. I had to test it, you know? Of course. You know me. And the weight of the log, snapped the limb of the tree, so I-I - , I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over *nothing*. And that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew, somehow, that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. And one day my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back. In Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass... And I've lost her all over again. I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly. But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?
”
”
William Broyles Jr. (Cast Away: The Shooting Script)
“
I like walking round London at night, I do it all the time. Not for no reason, just cos... it's home, innit? It's brilliant, you can't ever get bored of London cos even if you live here for like a hundred and fifty years you still won't ever know everything about it. There's always something new. Like, you're walking round somewhere you've known since you was born and you look up and there's an old clock on the side of a building you never seen before, or there's a little gargoyley face over a window or something. Don't you think it's cool?
”
”
Richard Rider (No Beginning, No End (Stockholm Syndrome, #3))
“
W psychologii jest takie pojęcie „błysk” to jest moment kiedy człowiekowi w głowie się wszystko zmienia, kiedy nagle dociera do niego cos co było oczywiste od lat, ale teraz nabrało innego wymiaru.
”
”
Jacek Walkiewicz
“
It doesn’t matter!’ snapped the Metatron. ‘The whole point of the creation of the Earth and Good and Evil—’ ‘I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin’ upset ’cos they act like people,’ said Adam severely. ‘Anyway, if you stopped tellin’ people it’s all sorted out after they’re dead, they might try sorting it all out while they’re alive. If I was in charge, I’d try makin’ people live a lot longer, like ole Methuselah. It’d be a lot more interestin’ and they might start thinkin’ about the sort of things they’re doing to all the enviroment and ecology, because they’ll still be around in a hundred years’ time.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens)
“
You can buy me a drink if you want," the kid says, suddenly appearing at Pip's shoulder. He turns round a bit to look at him, trying not to smile.
"That's generous of you."
"Ain't it?"
"What makes you think I'd wanna buy another man a drink?"
"Cos your t-shirt's got a unicorn on it.
”
”
Richard Rider (17 Black and 29 Red (Stockholm Syndrome, #2))
“
All these polo-necked wankers from grammar schools were going out and buying songs like ‘San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)’. Flowers in your hair? Do me a f**king favour.
[...]
Who gave a dog’s arse about what people were doing in San Francisco, anyway? The only flowers anyone saw in Aston were the ones they threw in the hole after you when you croaked it at the age of fifty-three ’cos you’d worked yourself to death.
I hated those hippy-dippy songs, man.
Really hated them.
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I Am Ozzy)
“
They looked up. Someone with a face and apron that said ‘barman’ in seven hundred languages was standing over them, a wine jug in each hand.
"No women in here," he went on.
"Why not?" said Nobby.
"No women asking questions, neither."
"Why not?"
“‘cos it is written, that’s why.”
"Where’m I supposed to go, then?"
The barman shrugged. “Who knows where women go?”
"Off you go, Beti," said the Patrician. "And … listen for information!"
Nobby grabbed the cup of wine from Colon and gulped it down.
"I dunno," he moaned. "I’ve only been a woman ten minutes and already I hate you male bastards.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Jingo (Discworld, #21; City Watch, #4))
“
«La morte è la madre della bellezza» disse Henry.
«E cos'è la bellezza?»
«Terrore.»
”
”
Donna Tartt (The Secret History)
“
Cos if it's encyclopedias we've got enough, like, information... and if it's God, you've got the wrong house.
”
”
Zadie Smith (White Teeth)
“
Cos'è quella sensazione che si prova quando ci si allontana in macchina dalle persone e le si vede recedere nella pianura fino a diventare macchioline e disperdersi? È il mondo troppo grande che ci sovrasta, è l'Addio. Ma intanto, ci si proietta in avanti verso una nuova, folle avventura sotto il cielo.
”
”
Jack Kerouac (On the Road)
“
Then Ephram stepped forward, mebbe not liking the nature of the conversation cos Morgan was not precisely showing himself to advantage here. I mean, I ain’t got no book learning, but one thing I do know is calling morts “feisty wenches” when they threaten to kill you is not the best way to keep your dick.
”
”
Alexis Hall (Prosperity (Prosperity, #1))
“
A DAY LAYE"
"Every dawn of our lives a heart is forged and
Linked with lore to one so similar
Born with blessed life dust
Stored beneath its soul
To bless and pass onto its children
Even though the wind may blow it all away
Don't ever worry 'cos I'm your friend.
”
”
Marc Bolan (Marc Bolan Lyric Book)
“
L'importante, diceva, è abituarsi a una faccia: non la bellezza ma l'abitudine. La bellezza in fondo che cos'è, una stupida questione geometrica, solo un incastro fortunato nel campionario di bocche, nasi e orecchie disponibili. Ma se una faccia hai imparato a conoscerla, e l'hai vista quando ha sonno, quando ha il raffreddore, quando è distrutta da una giornata nera, se ti sei abituato a quella faccia, allora hai superato la questione della bellezza, non sei d'accordo?
”
”
Paolo Cognetti (Sofia si veste sempre di nero)
“
Ma allora cos'è che ti conforta?"
"La certezza della mia libertà interiore" disse lui dopo aver riflettuto "questo bene prezioso, inalterabile, e che dipende sola da me perdere o conservare. la convinzione che le passioni spinte al parossismo come capita come capita ora finiscono poi per placarsi. Che tutto ciò che ha un inizio avrà una fine. In poche parole, che le catastrofi passano e che bisogna cercare di non andarsene prima di loro, ecco tutto. Perciò, prima di tutto vivere: Primum vivere. Giorno per giorno. Resistere, attendere, sperare.
”
”
Irène Némirovsky
“
Writing's much more romantic when its pen and ink and paper. It's... More timeless. and worthwhile. Think about it. There are so many words gushing out into the universe these days. All digitally. All in Comic Sans or Times New Roman. Silly Websites. Stupid news stories digitally uploaded to a 24-hour channel. Where's all this writing going? Who's keeping a note of it all? Who's in charge of deciding what's worthwhile and what isn't? But back then... Back then, if someone wanted to write something they had to buy paper. Buy it! And ink. And a pen. And they couldn't waste too many sheets cos it was expensive. So when people wrote, they wrote because it was worthwhile... not just because they had some half-baked idea and they wanted to pointlessly prove their existence by sharing it on some bloody social networking site.
”
”
Holly Bourne (The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting)
“
Volevo che tu vedessi cos'è il vero coraggio, invece di farti l'idea che il coraggio è un uomo con un fucile in mano. E' quando sai che sei battuto prima di cominciare ma cominci lo stesso e vai fino in fondo qualunque cosa succeda. Si vince di rado, ma qualche volta si vince.
”
”
Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)
“
Nev tossed his pen down. “Fine. Here goes:
Ren and Cals lives may be torrid
for the young ones in Vail are quite horrid
Bine and Cos aren’t too frail
Dax and Fey never pale
while Ansel and Bryn might get sordid
Bryn spit Diet Coke all over the table. Mason and Ansel clapped. I was too dumbfounded to react.
This is qhat quiet Nev does in his spare time?
“‘Bine’?” Sabine frowned while Cosette mopped up the soda that flowed to their end of the table. “Since when am I ‘Bine’? And we never call Cosette ‘Cos.’”
“It’s about cadence,” Nev said. “Sorry. I said it wasn’t very good.”
“Why aren’t you and Mason in it?” Ansel asked.
“Oh, he has another one about us.” Mason wiggled his eyebrows.
”
”
Andrea Cremer (Nightshade (Nightshade, #1; Nightshade World, #4))
“
Crivens!’
‘Oh no, not them,’ said the Queen, throwing up her hands.
It wasn’t just the Nac Mac Feegles, but also Wentworth, a strong smell of seaweed, a lot of water and a dead shark. They appeared in mid-air and landed in a heap between Tiffany and the Queen. But a pictsie was always ready for a fight, and they bounced, rolled and came up drawing their swords and shaking sea water out of their hair.
‘Oh, ‘tis you, izzut?’ said Rob Anybody, glaring up at the Queen. ‘Face to face wi’ ye at last, ye bloustie ol’ callyack that ye are! Ye canna’ come here, unnerstand? Be off wi’ ye! Are ye goin’ to go quietly?’
The Queen stamped heavily on him. When she took her foot away, only the top of his head was visible above the turf.
‘Well, are ye?’ he said, pulling himself out as if nothing had happened. ‘I don’t wantae havtae lose my temper wi’ ye! An’ it’s no good sendin’ your pets against us, ‘cos you ken we can take ‘em tae the cleaners!’ He turned to Tiffany, who hadn’t moved. ‘You just leave this tae us, Kelda. Us an’ the Quin, we go way back!
”
”
Terry Pratchett (The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30; Tiffany Aching, #1))
“
But... it's a nice day today, the birds is singing, there's stuff like... kittens and stuff, and the sun is shining off the snow, bringin' the promise of spring to come, with flowers, and fresh grass, and more kittens and hot summer days an' the gentle kiss of the rain and wonderful clean things which you won't ever see if you don't give us what's in that drawer 'cos you'll burn like a torch you double-dealing twisty dried-up cheating son of a bitch!
”
”
Terry Pratchett (The Truth: Stage Adaptation)
“
Henry glared at Anastasia. 'You quit planning on a rich husband, Anastasia. You're gonna get rich on your own. You and me, if we want husbands, fine. But we won't need them. Like our mothers. My mom could do just fine being a waitress, and your mom could do just fine being an artist. They got husbands 'cos they want them. That Bambie, now maybe she'll need a husband. But not you and me. Got it?
”
”
Lois Lowry (Anastasia's Chosen Career (Anastasia Krupnik, #7))
“
Ogni persona agisce basandosi su dei criteri propri. Nessun essere umano è uguale a un altro. È un problema di identità insomma. Ma che cos'è l'identità? È l'originalità del sistema di pensiero basato sull'insieme dei ricordi delle esperienze passate. Più semplicemente la si può chiamare lo spirito. Non esistono due persone con lo stesso spirito.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World)
“
E cosa c'è di bello nella coppia scusa?"
"La complicità, il senso di appartenenza. A me, per esempio, piace conoscere una persona a memoria"
"Come ti piace conoscere una persona a memoria? E la routine? La monotonia? Che cos'hanno de bello?"
"No, non parlo di routine o monotonia, ma di sapere a memoria una persona. Non so come spiegartelo, è come quando studi le poesie a scuola, in quel senso intendo a memoria"
"Questa non l'ho capita"
"Ma si dai, come una poesia. Sai come si dice in inglese studiare a memoria? By heart, col cuore. Anche in francese si dice par coeur... ecco, in questo senso intendo. Conoscere una persona a memoria, significa, come quando ripeti una poesia, prendere anche un po' di quel ritmo che le appartiene. Una poesia, come una persona, ha dei tempi suoi. Per cui conoscere una persona a memoria significa sincronizzare i battiti del proprio cuore con i suoi, farsi penetrare dal suo ritmo. Ecco, questo mi piace. Mi piace stare con una persona intimamente perché vuol dire correre il rischio di diventare leggermente diversi da se stessi. Alterarsi un po'. Perché non è essere se stessi che mi affascina in un rapporto a due, ma avere il coraggio di essere anche altro da sé. Che poi è quel te stesso che non conoscerai mai. A me piace amare una persona e conoscerla a memoria come una poesia, perché come una poesia non la si può comprendere mai fino in fondo. Infatti ho capito che amando non conoscerai altro che te stesso. Il massimo che puoi capire dell'altro è il massimo che puoi capire di te stesso. Per questo entrare intimamente in relazione con una persona è importante, perché diventa un viaggio conoscitivo esistenziale".
”
”
Fabio Volo (Il giorno in più)
“
If my like for you was a footy crowd, you'd be deaf cos of the roar.
And if my like for you were a boxer, there'd be a dead guy lying on the floor.
And if my like for you were sugar, you'd lose your teeth before you were twenty.
And if my like for you was money, let's just say you'd be spending plenty.
”
”
Cath Crowley (Graffiti Moon)
“
Look,” said Magrat desperately, “why don’t I go by myself?” “’Cos you ain’t experienced at fairy godmothering,” said Granny Weatherwax. This was too much even for Magrat’s generous soul. “Well, nor are you,” she said. “That’s true,” Granny conceded. “But the point is…the point is…the point is we’ve not been experienced for a lot longer than you.” “We’ve got a lot of experience of not having any experience,” said Nanny Ogg happily. “That’s what counts every time,” said Granny.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12))
“
‘All I can say is that I lost two of the greatest people in my life,’ I said, trying not to choke up. ‘But it ain’t gonna stop me because I’m about rock’n’roll, and rock’n’roll is for the
people, and I love people, and that’s what I’m about. I’m going to continue because Randy [Rhoads] would have liked me to, and so would Rachel [Youngblood], and I’m not going to stop, ’cos you can’t kill rock’n’roll.’
”
”
Ozzy Osbourne (I Am Ozzy)
“
Open up your chakra
Because once that’s happened there’s no going back
Once you start to see what is really happening
Who the enemy you should be attackin’ is
So READ, READ, READ!
Stuck on the block, READ, READ!
Sittin’ in the box, READ, READ!
Don’t let them say what you can achieve
Cos' when people are enslaved
One of the first things they do is stop them reading
Cos’ it is well understood that intelligent people will take their freedom
Cos’ if we knew our power we would understand that we can’t be held down
If we knew our power, we would not elevate not one of these clowns
If we knew our power, we wouldn’t get arrogant when we get two pennies
If we knew our power, we would see what everybody sees, that we’re rich already!
”
”
Akala
“
Everyone always knows what they're doing," he says abruptly, still not looking up from his hands, the little plastic pot and the old tattoo and the new white dressing on his left wrist. "You know what you're doing, you got your work and your friends and everything and miserable headfucky little teenage girly boys think you're amazing and, I don't know, you might've saved my life, who knows? I might be dead if it weren't for you and Olly but people can't keep looking after me all the time cos that ain't healthy neither, that's just as bad as people not giving a fuck at all. And, like... I'm trying to sort my head out and be a proper grown-up and get my degree and go to work and look after them kids and make sure my dad ain't kicking my sister round the house like a football but it's just so hard all the time, and I know I ain't got no right to complain cos that's just life, ain't it? Everyone's the same, least I ain't got money worries or nothing. I just don't know what I'm doing, everything's too hard. I can try and try forever but I can't be good enough for no one so what the fuck's the point?
”
”
Richard Rider (17 Black and 29 Red (Stockholm Syndrome, #2))
“
But it must’ve happened!” snapped Vimes. “I told you, I can remember it! I was there yesterday!” “Nice try, but that doesn’t mean anything anymore,” said the monk. “Trust me. Yes, it’s happened to you, but even though it has, it might not. ’Cos of quantum. Right now, there isn’t a Commander Vimes–shaped hole in the future to drop you into. It’s officially Uncertain. But might not be, if you do it right. You owe it to yourself, Commander. Right now, out there, Sam Vimes is learning to be a very bad copper indeed. And he learns fast.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Night Watch (Discworld, #29))
“
Take off your damned wrapper! The old buffer ordered, looking intensely at her lower part. Comfort was on her knees, rubbing the old man's dirty feet.
All her plea and tears continually worsen the whole matter.
I want to do you harder cos you gonna be fucked by other folks who needs a large hole, said the man, moving towards her.
Comfort struggled with all her feminine might, but the old masculine but old man ripped her wrapper and slapped her on the face.
Lie here, Lie here! I'm gonna do what your old man did to your mama and its gonna sweet you.
She screamed as the man's organ prick her glory hole like a sharp needle.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson (Comfort)
“
Certainly not! I didn't build a machine to solve ridiculous crossword puzzles! That's hack work, not Great Art! Just give it a topic, any topic, as difficult as you like..."
Klapaucius thought, and thought some more. Finally he nodded and said:
"Very well. Let's have a love poem, lyrical, pastoral, and expressed in the language of pure mathematics. Tensor algebra mainly, with a little topology and higher calculus, if need be. But with feeling, you understand, and in the cybernetic spirit."
"Love and tensor algebra?" Have you taken leave of your senses?" Trurl began, but stopped, for his electronic bard was already declaiming:
Come, let us hasten to a higher plane,
Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
Their indices bedecked from one to n,
Commingled in an endless Markov chain!
Come, every frustum longs to be a cone,
And every vector dreams of matrices.
Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze:
It whispers of a more ergodic zone.
In Reimann, Hilbert or in Banach space
Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways.
Our asymptotes no longer out of phase,
We shall encounter, counting, face to face.
I'll grant thee random access to my heart,
Thou'lt tell me all the constants of thy love;
And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove,
And in bound partition never part.
For what did Cauchy know, or Christoffel,
Or Fourier, or any Boole or Euler,
Wielding their compasses, their pens and rulers,
Of thy supernal sinusoidal spell?
Cancel me not--for what then shall remain?
Abscissas, some mantissas, modules, modes,
A root or two, a torus and a node:
The inverse of my verse, a null domain.
Ellipse of bliss, converge, O lips divine!
The product of our scalars is defined!
Cyberiad draws nigh, and the skew mind
Cuts capers like a happy haversine.
I see the eigenvalue in thine eye,
I hear the tender tensor in thy sigh.
Bernoulli would have been content to die,
Had he but known such a^2 cos 2 phi!
”
”
Stanisław Lem (The Cyberiad)
“
There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-fucking-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others.
”
”
Guy Ritchie
“
William groaned. It was Vimes. Worse, he was smiling, in a humourless predatory way.
"Ah, Mr de Worde," he said, stepping inside. "There are several thousand dogs stampeding through the city at the moment. This is an interesting fact, isn't it?"
He leaned against the wall and produced a cigar. "Well, I say dogs," he said, striking a match on Goodmountain's helmet. "Mostly dogs, perhaps I should say. Some cats. More cats now, in fact, 'cos, hah, there's nothing like a, yes, a tidal wave of dogs, fighting and biting and howling, to sort of, how can I put it, give a city a certain . . . busyness. Especially underfoot,
because - did I mention it? -they're very nervous dogs too. Oh, and did I mention cattle?" he went on, conversationally. "You know how it is, market day and so on, people are driving the cows and, my goodness, around the corner comes a wall of wailing dogs . . . Oh, and I forgot about the sheep. And the chickens, although I imagine there's not much left of the chickens now.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (The Truth: Stage Adaptation)
“
There are garments in all of our wardrobes we don't wear
because we don't dare. We bought the jumpsuit for when we
were feeling brave and it turns out we never are. A friend of
mine had a party and asked us to wear that thing we already
own that we never dare wear and it was the most wonderful
night. One woman wore her bridal gown. Others wore more
cleavage than clothes. Some wore glam rock shoes and velvet
capes. Others, tight jeans and crop tops. Some, cosplay cos
times. We were all given permission to say yes to our most
daring selves. The one we leave hanging up at home. You don't
have to be queer to leave the best part of yourself in the closet.
Most of us are doing it all the time,
”
”
Deborah Frances-White (The Guilty Feminist: From Our Noble Goals to Our Worst Hypocrisies)
“
There was a sudden silence from the combo in the smoke. One of the trolls picked up a small rock and started to pound it gently, producing a slow, sticky rhythm that clung to the walls like smoke. And from the smoke, Ruby emerged like a galleon out of the fog with a ridiculous feather boa around her neck. It was continental drift with words. She began to sing.
The trolls stood in respectful silence. After a while Victor heard a sob. Tears were rolling down Rock's face.
"What's the song about?" he whispered. Rock leaned down.
"Is ancient folklorique troll song," he said. "Is about Amber and Jasper. They were—" he hesitated, and waved his hands about vaguely. "Friends. Good friends?"
"I think I know what you mean," said Victor.
"And one day Amber takes her troll’s dinner down to the cave and finds him—" Rock waved his hands in vague yet thoroughly descriptive motions "—with another lady troll. So she go home and get her club and come back and beat him to death, thump, thump, thump. ’Cos he was her troll and he done her wrong. Is very romantic song.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Moving Pictures (Discworld, #10; Industrial Revolution, #1))
“
As specimens go, they always get excited about me. I'm a good one. A show-stopper. I'm the kind of kid they'll still enquire about ten years later. Fifty-one placements, drug problems, violence, dead adopted mum, no biological links, constant offending. Tick, tick, tick. I lure them in to being with. Cultivate my specimen face. They like that. Do-gooders are vomit-worthy. Damaged goods are dangerous. The ones that are in it cos the thought it would be a step up from an office job are tedious. The ones who've been in too long lose it. The ones who think they've got the Jesus touch are fucking insane. The I can save you brigade are particularly radioactive. They think if you just inhale some of their middle-classism, then you'll be saved.
”
”
Jenni Fagan (The Panopticon)
“
Millions of flying saucers landin’ all the time and the government keeps hushing it up.’ ‘Why?’ said Wensleydale. Adam hesitated. His reading hadn’t provided a quick explanation for this; New Aquarian just took it as the foundation of belief, both of itself and its readers, that the government hushed everything up. ‘’Cos they’re the government,’ said Adam simply. ‘That’s what governments do. They’ve got this great big building in London full of books of all the things they’ve hushed up. When the Prime Minister gets into work in the morning, the first thing he does is go through the big list of everything that’s happened in the night and put this big red stamp on them.’ ‘I bet he has a cup of tea first, and then reads the paper,’ said Wensleydale,
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Good Omens)
“
Something that a lot of people don’t know is that I have a five-month old son. Any free time I have now is spent with him. A few people suggested to me that I should try and hide the fact that I have a son because it might damage my career. But as far as I'm concerned, to hide it would suggest that I was ashamed and I'm not ashamed. I love my son. Me and his mom aren't in a relationship. We're actually best friends. We've known each other for years and years and never ever wanted to be in a relationship with each other. But the one time we... got physical, she fell pregnant. Of course, we did a lot of talking to decide how we were gonna handle the situation. We weren't about to start a relationship for the sake of the child 'cos that's not what either of us wanted. So I just said, "You be mom, I'll be dad and let's just raise a son." And though we're not together, that's exactly what we're doing.
”
”
Ne-Yo
“
So, what do you go for in a girl?”
He crows, lifting a lager to his lips
Gestures where his mate sits
Downs his glass
“He prefers tits I prefer ass. What do you go for in a girl?”
I don’t feel comfortable
The air left the room a long time ago
All eyes are on me
Well, if you must know I want a girl who reads
Yeah. Reads.
I’m not trying to call you a chauvinist
Cos I know you’re not alone in this but…
I want a girl who reads
Who needs the written word & uses the added vocabulary
She gleans from novels and poetry
To hold lively conversation In a range of social situations
I want a girl who reads
Who’s heart bleeds at the words of Graham Greene Or even Heat magazine
Who’ll tie back her hair while reading Jane Eyre
And goes cover to cover with each water stones three for two offer but
I want a girl who doesn’t stop there
I want a girl who reads
Who feeds her addiction for fiction
With unusual poems and plays
That she hunts out in crooked bookshops for days and days and days
She’ll sit addicted at breakfast, soaking up the back of the cornflakes box
And the information she gets from what she reads makes her a total fox
Cos she’s interesting & unique & her theories make me go weak at the knees
I want a girl who reads
A girl who’s eyes will analyze
The menu over dinner
Who’ll use what she learns to kick my ass in arguments so she always ends the winner
But she’ll still be sweet and she’ll still be flirty
Cos she loves the classics and the classics are dirty
So late at night she’d always have me in a stupor
As she paraphrases the raunchier moments from the works of
Jilly Cooper See, some guys prefer asses
Some prefer tits
And I’m not saying that I don’t like those bits
But what’s more important
What supersedes
Is a girl with passion, wit and dreams
So I’d like a girl who reads.
”
”
Mark Grist
“
Deciding to actively heal is terrifying because it means opening up to hope. For many survivors, hope has brought only disappointment.
Although it is terrifying to say yes to yourself, it is also a tremendous relief when you finally stop and face your own demons.
There is something about looking terror in the face, and seeing your own reflection, that is strangely relieving. There is comfort in knowing that you don't have to pretend anymore, that you are going to do everything
within your power to heal. As one survivor
put it, "I know now that every time I accept
my past and respect where I am in the present, I am giving myself a future."
- The Courage to Heal
”
”
Ellen Bass (The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse)
“
Cos'è il kitsch? Prima di tutto, è un'idea dell'arte che implica una falsificazione dell'arte autentica, o come minimo la sua svalutazione sensazionalistica; ma è anche la negazione di tutto ciò che nell'esistenza umana risulta inaccettabile, nascosto dietro una facciata di sentimentalismo, bellezza fraudolenta e virtù posticcia. Il kitsch è, in poche parole, una menzogna narcisistica che nasconde la verità dell'orrore e della morte: così come il kitsch estetico è una menzogna estetica (un'arte che in realtà è una falsa arte) il kitsch storico è una menzogna storica (una storia che in realtà è una falsa storia). […] Così come l'ormai vecchia industria dell'intrattenimento ha bisogno di alimentarsi del kitsch estetico, che regala a chi lo consuma l'illusione di star godendo dell'arte autentica senza chiedergli in cambio nessuno degli sforzi che quel godimento richiede né costringerlo a esporsi a nessuna delle avventure intellettuali e a nessuno dei rischi morali che comporta, la nuova industria della memoria ha bisogno di alimentarsi del kitsch storico, che regala a chi lo consuma l'illusione di conoscere la storia reale risparmiandogli sforzi, ma soprattutto risparmiandogli le ironie e le contraddizioni e i disagi e le vergogne e le paure e le nausee e le vertigini e le delusioni che quella conoscenza procura.
”
”
Javier Cercas (El impostor)
“
La Lotería, con su reparto semanal de enormes premios, era el único acontecimiento público al que los proles prestaban verdadera atención. Era probable que hubiese millones de proles para quienes la Lotería fuese la razón principal, si no la única, para seguir con vida. Era su deleite, su locura, su analgésico, su estimulante intelectual. En lo que se refería a la Lotería, hasta quienes apenas sabían leer y escribir eran capaces de llevar a cabo intrincados cálculos y sorprendentes logros memorísticos. Había toda una tribu de individuos que se ganaban la vida vendiendo sistemas, predicciones y amuletos de la suerte. Winston no tenía nada que ver con la Lotería, que se gestionaba desde el Ministerio de la Abundancia, pero sabía (como cualquier otro miembro del Partido) que los premios eran casi todos imaginarios. Solo se pagaban pequeñas sumas y los ganadores de los premios gordos en realidad no existían. En ausencia de verdadera comunicación entre una parte de Oceanía y otra, no resultaba difícil amañarlo.
”
”
George Orwell (1984)
“
Ah have been lonely fur years now. Lonely long afore ma wife died. Don't get us wrong. She was a guid wummin, a guid wummin just like our Colleen, but we were jist stuck in our wee routine. When ye think about it, ah've been under the ground most of ma life. There wasn't much in me for sharing at the end of a day. After twenty years, what do you talk about? But she was a guid wummin. She used to make me these big hot dinners, with meat and gravy, the plate scalding hot cos she'd warm it up all day in the oven. We ate big hot dinners because we had nothing left to say. Nothing worthwhile anyway. Ah'm forty-three. That's four years older than when ma father died, so I should've been done. I should've been retiring from the pits, living the rest of ma days out with her and with nothing to say. When I saw ye I wasn't looking. I didn't know of you then, hadn't heard our Colleen lift your name. That's wummin's stuff, isn't it? They don't talk to the men about that. Gossip. Telling tales. Chapel. That's their club. All I know is when I saw you sat behind that glass, I saw someone lonely too, and I hoped we might have something to say to each other. I realised then. Ah don't want to be done.
”
”
Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain)
“
Che cos'è l'Ottocento? Un'epoca nella quale la donna era sacra, e si poteva comprare una ragazza di tredici anni per poche sterline, o pochi scellini se la si voleva soltanto per un'ora o due. Nella quale si costruirono più chiese che in tutta la precedente storia del paese, e a Londra una casa su sessanta era un bordello (la proporzione moderne sarebbe pressappoco una su seimila). Nella quale la santità del matrimonio (e della castità prematrimoniale) era esaltata da ogni pulpito, in tutti gli editoriali e nei pubblici comizi, e grandi personaggi pubblici - dal futuro re in giù - conducevano una vita assolutamente scandalosa. Nella quale venne gradatamente umanizzato il sistema penale, e la flagellazione era talmente diffusa che un francese cercò seriamente di dimostrare che il marchese De Sade doveva essere d'origine inglese. Nella quale il corpo femminile era più che mai celato agli occhi indiscreti, e i meriti degli scultori erano valutati in base alla loro capacità di scolpire donne nude. Nella quale non esiste un romanzo, una commedia o una poesia di un certo livello letterario che si spinga oltre la sessualità di un bacio [...], mentre la popolazione di opere pornografiche raggiungeva un livello mai superato. Nella quale non si nominavano mai le funzioni escretorie, e le condizioni igieniche erano ancora talmente primitive [...] che dovevano esserci poche case e poche strade che non le ricordassero in continuazione. Nella quale si sosteneva all'unanimità che le donne non hanno orgasmo, e si insegnava a ogni prostituta come simularlo. Nella quale ci furono progressi enormi in tutti gli altri settori dell'attività umana, e soltanto tirannide nel più personale e fondamentale
”
”
John Fowles (The French Lieutenant’s Woman)
“
I skanked deep on Wolt's pipe an' four days march from our free Windward to Kona Leeward seemed like four mil'yun, yay, babbybies o' blissweed cradled me that night, then the drummin' started up, see ev'ry tribe had its own drums. Foday o' Lotus Pond Dwellin' an' two-three Valleysmen played goatskin'n'pingwood tom-toms, an' Hilo beardies thumped their flumfy-flumfy drums an' a Honokaa fam'ly beat their sash-krrangers an' Honomu folk got their shell-shakers an' this whoah feastin' o' drums twanged the young uns' joystrings an' mine too, yay, an' blissweed'll lead you b'tween the whack-crack an' boom-doom an' pan-pin-pon till we dancers was hoofs thuddin' an' blood pumpin' an' years passin' an' ev'ry drumbeat one more life shedded off me, yay, I glimpsed all the lifes my soul ever was till far-far back b'fore the Fall, yay, glimpsed from a gallopin' horse in a hurrycane, but I cudn't describe 'em 'cos there ain't the words no more but well I mem'ry that dark Kolekole girl with her tribe's tattoo, yay, she was a saplin' bendin' an' I was that hurrycane, I blowed her she bent, I blowed harder she bent harder an' closer, then I was Crow's wings beatin' an' she was the flames lickin' an' when the Kolekole saplin' wrapped her willowy fingers around my neck, her eyes was quartzin' and she murmed in my ear, Yay, I will, again, an' yay, we will, again.
”
”
David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)
“
The one-eyed man stood helplessly by. "I'll help ya if ya want," he said. "Know what that son-of-a-bitch done? He come by an' he got on white pants. An' he says, 'Come on, le's go out to my yacht.' By God, I'll whang him some day!" He breathed heavily. "I ain't been out with a woman sence I los' my eye. An' he says stuff like that." And big tears cut channels in the dirt beside his nose.
Tom said impatiently, "Whyn't you roll on? Got no guards to keep ya here."
"Yeah, that's easy to say. Ain't so easy to get a job - not for a one-eye' man."
Tom turned on him. "Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An' ya dirty, ya stink. Ya jus' askin' for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaself. 'Course ya can't get no woman with that empty eye flappin' aroun'. Put somepin over it an' wash ya face. You ain't hittin' nobody with no pipe wrench."
"I tell ya, a one-eye' fella got a hard row," the man said. "Can't see stuff the way other fellas can. Can't see how far off a thing is. Ever'thing's jus' flat."
Tom said, "Ya full of crap. Why, I knowed a one-legged whore one time. Think she was takin' two-bits in a alley? No, by God! She's gettin' half a dollar extra. She says, 'How many one-legged women you slep' with? None!' she says. 'O.K.,' she says. 'You got somepin pretty special here, an it's gonna cos' ya half a buck extry.' An' by God, she was gettin' 'em, too, an' the fellas comin' out thinkin' they're pretty lucky. She says she's good luck. An' I knowed a hump-back in - in a place I was. Make his whole livin' lettin' folk rub his hump for luck. Jesus Christ, an' all you got is one eye gone."
The man said stumblingly, "Well, Jesus, ya see somebody edge away from ya, an' it gets into ya."
"Cover it up then, goddamn it. Ya stickin' it out like a cow's ass. Ya like to feel sorry for yaself. There ain't nothin' the matter with ya. Buy yaself some white pants. Ya gettin' drunk and cryin' in ya bed, I bet."
...
The one-eyed man said softly, "Think - somebody'd like - me?"
"Why, sure," said Tom. "Tell 'em ya dong's growed sence you los' your eye.
”
”
John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath)
“
Telegraph Road
A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a pack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came riding down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines - then came the ore
Then there was the hard times, then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river ...
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow ...
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
Yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't want to see it again ...
From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
All the way down the telegraph road
”
”
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits - 1982-91)
“
«Le strade di Fantàsia», disse Graogramàn, «le puoi trovare solo grazie ai tuoi desideri. E ogni volta puoi procedere soltanto da un desiderio al successivo. Quello che non desideri ti rimane inaccessibile. Questo è ciò che qui significano le parole 'vicino' e 'lontano'. E non basta volere soltanto andar via da un luogo. Devi desiderarne un altro. Devi lasciarti guidare dai tuoi desideri.»
«Ma io non desidero affatto andarmene da qui», ribatté Bastiano.
«Dovrai trovare il tuo prossimo desiderio», replicò Graogramàn in tono quasi severo.
«E quando l'avrò trovato», fece Bastiano di rimando, «come potrò andarmene da qui?»
«Ascolta, mio signore», disse Graogramàn a voce bassa, «in Fantàsia c'è un luogo che conduce ovunque e al quale si può giungere da ogni parte. Viene chiamato il Tempio delle Mille Porte. Nessuno lo ha visto dall'esterno, perché non ha un esterno. Il suo interno consiste in un labirinto di porte. Chi lo vuole conoscere deve avere il coraggio di inoltrarsi in quel labirinto.»
«Ma come è possibile, se non ci si può avvicinare dall'esterno?»
«Ogni porta», continuò il leone, «ogni porta in tutta Fantàsia, persino una comunissima porta di cucina o di stalla, sicuro, persino l'anta di un armadio, può in un determinato momento diventare la porta d'ingresso al Tempio delle Mille Porte. Passato quell'attimo, torna a essere quello che era, una porta qualsiasi. Perciò nessuno
può passare per più di una volta dalla stessa porta. E nessuna delle mille porte riconduce là da dove si è venuti. Non esiste ritorno.»
«Ma una volta che si è dentro», domandò Bastiano, «si può uscirne?»
«Sicuro», rispose il leone, «però non è così facile come nei soliti edifici. Perché attraverso il labirinto delle Mille Porte ti può guidare solo un vero desiderio. Chi non lo ha è costretto a continuare a vagarci dentro fino a quando sa esattamente che cosa desidera. E questo talvolta richiede molto tempo.»
«E come si fa a trovare la porta d'ingresso?»
«Bisogna desiderarlo.»
Bastiano rifletté a lungo e poi disse:
«È strano che non si possa semplicemente desiderare quello che si vuole. Ma, per la verità, da dove ci vengono i desideri? E che cos'è un desiderio?»
Graogramàn guardò il ragazzo a occhi spalancati, ma non rispose.
Qualche giorno più tardi ebbero un altro colloquio molto importante.
Bastiano aveva mostrato al leone la scritta sul rovescio dell'amuleto. «Che cosa può significare?» domandò. «FA' CIO' CHE VUOI, questo vuol dire che posso fare tutto quello che mi pare, non credi?»
Il volto di Graogramàn assunse d'improvviso un'espressione di terribile serietà e i suoi occhi divennero fiammanti.
«No», esclamò con quella sua voce profonda e tonante, «vuol dire che devi fare quel che è la tua vera volontà. E nulla è più difficile.»
«La mia vera volontà?» ripeté Bastiano impressionato. «E che cosa sarebbe?»
«È il tuo più profondo segreto, quello che tu non conosci.»
«E come posso arrivare a conoscerlo?»
«Camminando nella strada dei desideri, dall'uno all'altro, e fino all'ultimo. L'ultimo ti condurrà alla tua vera volontà.»
«Ma questo non mi pare tanto difficile.»
«Di tutte le strade è la più pericolosa», replicò il leone.
«Perché?» domandò Bastiano. «Io non ho paura.»
«Non è di questo che si tratta», ruggì Graogramàn, «ciò richiede la massima sincerità e attenzione, perché non c'è altra strada su cui sia tanto facile perdersi definitivamente.»
”
”
Michael Ende