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Flann O'Brien

Flann O'Brien Quotes

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Famous Flann O'Brien Quotes

“After a time," said old Mathers disregarding me, "I mercifully perceived the errors of my ways and the unhappy destination I would reach unless I mended them. I retired from the world in order to try to comprehend it and to find out why it becomes more unsavoury as the years accumulate on a man's body. What do you think I discovered at the end of my meditations?" I felt pleased again. He was now questioning me. "What?" "That No is a better word than Yes," he replied.”

ThinkingMenWorldWayTryingYearsSaidEndsBodyOrderFeltMeditationErrorsUnhappyMy WayDestinationQuestioningRetired
Book:The Third Policeman (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
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“The continual cracking of your feet on the road makes a certain quantity of road come up into you. When a man dies they say he returns to clay but too much walking fills you up with clay far sooner (or buries bits of you along the road) and brings your death half-way to meet you. It is not easy to know what is the best way to move yourself from one place to another.”

KnowsMenWayMovingCertainDiesEasyBitsHalfToo MuchFeetReturnWalkingCome UpBest WayQuantityClayHalf Way
Book:The Complete Novels
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“When a man sleeps, he is steeped and lost in a limp toneless happiness: awake he is restless, tortured by his body and the illusion of existence. Why have men spent the centuries seeking to overcome the awakened body? Put it to sleep, that is a better way. Let it serve only to turn the sleeping soul over, to change the blood-stream and thus make possible a deeper and more refined sleep.”

MenWaySoulBodyTurnsLostSleepExistenceBloodCenturyIllusionOvercomingSeekingDeeperAwakeStreamsRestlessAwakenedBetter WaysRefined
Author:Flann O'Brien
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“Why be a dumb dud? Do your friends shun you? Do people cross the street when they see you approaching? Do they run up the steps of strange houses, pretend they live there and force their way into the hall while you are passing by? If this is the sort of person you are, you must avail yourself today of this new service. Otherwise, you might as well be dead.”

PeopleIfsWayWellsPersonsMightRunningTodayHouseForceStepsStreetsStrangeCrossesPassingPassingsDumbHallsPassing By
Author:Flann O'Brien
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