Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jenny Diski Books
Jenny Diski

Jenny Diski Books

Writer

Related Quotes

“I'd better explain something about myself. Just as I wasn''t your archetypal beauty of a miller's daughter, I also did not have the same hankerings after pretty golden princes as my peers were universally supposed to have. Don't ask me why. A matter of personal taste. The King, as handsome as a former fairytale prince must be once he's stopped being a frog, left me cold. I had always been attracted to—how can I put it?—the unusual. The shepherd boy was no one's idea of an Adonis; he suffered badly from the after-effects of chickenpox, and had a body which at best could be called weedy. But once he did the things he did, I came to love each and every pock mark on his pallid cheeks, and lay in my bed at night entertaining myself with visions of his skinny thighs and thin, unmanly, rounded shoulders. It's fascinating how human desire can find all manner of things exciting once it's been given a push in the right direction.”

DesireBeautySexuality
Book:The Vanishing Princess
Create image

“There are some words I find impossibly difficult ... 'Love,' 'feeling' and especially 'happiness' are at the head of the list. This is not because I haven't experienced any of them but because whenever I think about using the words I don't really know what anyone means by them. I'd find it easier to sit down and write a book about each (coming, obviously, to no conclusion) than to use them casually in speech or writing.”

ThinkingKnowsWritingMeanBookUseFeelingsLanguageDifficultHavensEasierSpeechDown AndListsConclusionLove Feeling
Author:Jenny Diski
Create image

“But nothing will persuade me that the mere fact of being in a place is enough in itself to justify the effort of getting out of bed to become a tourist, or even a traveller. I don't have the slightest wish to be intrepid. I don't want to prove myself to myself or anyone else. I don't care if no one thinks me brave or hardy. I have no concern at all that I did not have whatever it is I should have had to take a dive out of a plane or off a building. None of that matters to me in the least.”

IfsThinkingWantShouldMatterEnoughFactsCareWishEffortBuildingBedProveConcernShould HaveBraveMereDon't CarePlanesI Don't CareJustifyTouristsTravellerHardyProve Myself
Author:Jenny Diski
Create image

“We were greeted by the minister whose inclusive, non-judgemental smile was no more than a whisker away from a smirk. Have I made it clear? I don't like belief systems and even less like those that peddle self-righteousness. I have no doubt the minister was a sincere man, but I am not as impressed by the idea of sincerity as the sincere seem to be.”

MenMadeIdeasSelfSeemsBeliefClearDoubtMade ItMinistersNo DoubtRighteousnessSincereSincerityImpressedBelief SystemsSelf RighteousnessJudgementalSmirkWhiskersNon Judgemental
Author:Jenny Diski
Create image