“Clusters of distant lights was the view of Mankind that he liked the best. The lights had the archaic charm of little fires on a plain, and the frailty about them, if it did not excuse anything, at least explained a lot of Man's stubborn ruthlessness. Mankind had not started the mess that was life, after all. And on the whole, it had been an interesting species to be a part of, the girls especially, as long as you remembered to watch your back.” LifeMankindGirlsFrailtyRuthlessnessGabriel D AllierWatch Your BackDistant Lights Book:Aurorarama Source: Aurorarama
“This isn't the time for bravado, Mr. Orsini,' he said. Brentford couldn't help himself. 'No, it isn't,' he said. 'Perhaps you could come back later?” QuipBravadoBrentford OrsiniIsn T The TimeTripotte Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“The blizzard seemed to be dying down, and it was now possible to enjoy the sight of the buildings and embankments and bridges smothered in the diamond-dusted whiteness. There's always something soothing in the snow, thought Gabriel, a promise of happiness and absolution, of a new start on a clean sheet. Snow redesigned the streets with hints of another architecture, even more magnificent, more fanciful than it already was, all spires and pinnacles on pale palaces of pearl and opal. All that New Venice should have been reappeared through its partial disappearance. It was as if the city were dreaming about itself and crystallizing both that dream and the ethereal unreality of it. He wallowed in the impression, badly needing it right now, knowing it would not last as he hobbled nearer to his destination.” SnowBlizzardGabriel D AllierNew VeniceDream Architecture Book:Aurorarama Source: Aurorarama
“It was the French of the Normans that, grafting itself onto the barbaric Saxon tongue, gave it its most magnificent blossoming. And, in these new countries, where both English and French are intertwined again, it is as if English were bathing itself in the fountain of its own youth, and as if French were remembering the buried treasures it had thought forgotten.” LanguageFrenchEnglishBlossomingFountain Of YouthBuried TreasureNormanSaxon Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“Brentford gave the polite smile of a man who talks daily with a living mechanical head about a city in the Arctic Circle governed by hermaphrodite Siamese twins born from a dead woman, and refrained from further comments about the probable and improbable.” ImprobableHermaphroditesProbableConjoined TwinsBrentford OrsiniNew VeniceArctic CircleMechanical Heads Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“I have heard about your gifts myself, Miss Roth,' read the subtitle under Brentford's awkward mumble.” AwkwardBrentford OrsiniMumbleMorgane RothSubtitle Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“Could it be, God forbid, that nationality is only a superficial, insignificant layer of the onion that is your being? What would you think of the man who would say of himself 'I am an overcoat' just because he happened to be wearing one?” SuperficialInsignificantNationalityOvercoatOnionGabriel D AllierGod Forbid Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“Vassily cleared his throat, probably impatient with Gabriel's bookshelf manners. 'You'll have to excuse me,' Gabriel said, putting back the booklet, 'I have a severe addiction to ink.' 'Don't we all?' Vassily nodded. 'Thank God we have other addictions to assuage it a little.” BooksAddictionInkAddictionsGabriel D AllierAddiction To InkBookshelf MannersPaul Vassily Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“When in doubt, do what they do in books, was one of Gabriel's secret mottos and - that rarest of things - a principle that he actually lived by.” PrinciplesBooksRareMottosGabriel D Allier Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“... Paris was no more Babylon than it was New Jerusalem. All cities worthy of that name were both: they were one because they were the other...” CitiesParisBabylonNew JerusalemMovable Feast Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos
“... even if the previous millisecond is closer to us than the birth of the universe, it is equally out of reach.” TimeCloserOut Of ReachArrow Of TimeBirth Of The UniverseMillisecondsPrevious Millisecond Book:Luminous Chaos Source: Luminous Chaos