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Graham Greene

Graham Greene Quotes

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Famous Graham Greene Quotes

“That was the worst period of all: it is my profession to imagine, to think in images: fifty times through the day, and immediately I woke during the night, a curtain would rise and the play would begin: always the same play, Sarah making love, Sarah with X, doing the same things that we had done together, Sarah kissing in her own particular way, arching herself in the act of sex and uttering that cry like pain, Sarah in abandonment. I would take pills at night to make me sleep quickly, but I never found any pills that would keep me asleep till daylight.”

LoveJealousy
Book:The End of the Affair
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“Στεκόταν σφιγμένη πάνω του ακουμπώντας τα χέρια της στα πλευρά του. Όταν ο ήχος της φωνής έσβησε, ύψωσε το στόμα της κατά τη μεριά του και φιλήθηκαν. Κείνο που κι οι δυο τους είχαν πάρει για ασφάλεια είχε αποδειχθεί στην πραγματικότητα το καμουφλάζ ενός εχθρού που δουλεύει με το πρόσχημα της φιλίας, της εμπιστοσύνης και του οίκτου.”

LoveFriendshipMercy
Book:The Heart of The Matter
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“I know he is afraid of that desert which would be around him if our love were to end, but he can't realize that I feel exactly the same. What he says aloud I say to myself silently and write it here. What can one build in the desert? Sometimes after a day when we have made love many times, I wonder whether it isn't possible to come to an end of sex, and I know that he is wondering too and is afraid of that point where the desert begins. What do we do in the desert if we lose each other? How does one go on living after that?”

LoveBreak UpsLove Ending
Book:The End of the Affair
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“Did you find anything special?' Blackie asked. T. nodded. 'Come over here,' he said, 'and look.' Out of both pockets he drew bundles of pound notes. 'Old Misery's savings,' he said. 'Mike ripped out the mattress, but he missed them.' 'What are you going to do? Share them?' 'We aren't thieves,' T. said. 'Nobody's going to steal anything from this house. I kept these for you and me - a celebration.' He knelt down on the floor and counted them out - there were seventy in all. 'We'll burn them,' he said, 'one by one,' and taking it in turns they held a note upwards and lit the top corner, so that the flame burnt slowly towards their fingers. The grey ash floated above them and fell on their heads like age. 'I'd like to see Old Misery's face when we are through,' T. said. 'You hate him a lot?' Blackie asked. 'Of course I don't hate him,' T. said. 'There'd be no fun if I hated him.' The last burning note illuminated his brooding face. 'All this hate and love,' he said, 'it's soft, it's hooey. There's only things, Blackie,' and he looked round the room crowded with the unfamiliar shadows of half things, broken things, former things. 'I'll race you home, Blackie,' he said. ("The Destructors")”

LoveHateMoneyObjectsMaterialismThings
Book:Shock!
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“Those who marry God can become domesticated too - it's just as hum-drum a marriage as all the others. The word Love means a formal touch of the lips as in the ceremony of the Mass, and Ave Maria like dearest is a phrase to open a letter. This marriage like the world's marriages was held together by habits and tastes shared in common between God and themselves - it was God's taste to be worshipped and their taste to worship, but only at stated hours like a suburban embrace on a Saturday night.”

WorldLoveMeanTogetherNightHoursChurchCommonHabitTasteWorshipMassLettersEmbraceLipsPhrasesFormalSaturdayCeremonySaturday NightLove MeansWords Love
Book:A Burnt Out Case
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“Men can become twins with age. The past was their common womb; the six months of rain and the six months of sun was the period of their common gestation. They needed only a few words and a few gestures to convey their meaning. They had graduated through the same fevers, they were moved by the same love and contempt.”

MenLoveAgePastCommonSunMonthsNeededPeriodsSixRainMovedContemptGesturesTwinsSix MonthsWombFeverFew WordsSame LoveGestation
Book:The Portable Graham Greene
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