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Patricia Highsmith

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“But there was not a moment when she did not see Carol in her mind, and all she saw, she seemed to see through Carol. That evening, the dark flat streets of New York, the tomorrow of work, the milk bottle dropped and broken in her sink, became unimportant. She flung herself on her bed and drew a line with a pencil on a piece of paper. And another line, carefully, and another. A world was born around her, like a bright forest with a million shimmering leaves.”

WorldMindMomentsBornLinesDarkMillionsSawsPiecesStreetsNew YorkBrokenTomorrowBedPaperForestsEveningFlatsBottlesMilkPencilsUnimportantCarols
Author:Patricia Highsmith
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“Then Carol slipped her arm under her neck, and all the length of their bodies touched fitting as if something had prearranged it. Happiness was like a green vine spreading through her, stretching fine tendrils, bearing flowers through her flesh. She had a vision of a pale white flower, shimmering as if seen in darkness, or through water. Why did people talk of heaven, she wondered”

PeopleIfsBodyHeavenWaterWhiteVisionDarknessFlowerArmsFineGreenFleshNecksTouchedLengthPaleFittingStretchingVinesCarolsWhite Flowers
Book:The Price of Salt
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“He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with.They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn' t that worth something? He existed.”

PeopleIfsMenWorldMadeSelfCertainEnjoySimpleExistenceQualitySecurityMassPossessionSelf RespectSelectOstentation
Author:Patricia Highsmith
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“But there were too many points at which the other self could invade the self he wanted to preserve, and there were too many forms of invasion: certain words, sounds, lights, actions his hands or feet performed, and if he did nothing at all, heard and saw nothing, the shouting of some triumphant inner voice that shocked him and cowed him.”

IfsSelfHandsLightActionWantedFormCertainSoundVoiceSawsHeardFeetTrainPreservesShockedInvasionInner VoiceShoutingTriumphant
Book:Strangers on a Train
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“How was it possible to be afraid and in love... The two things did not go together. How was it possible to be afraid, when the two of them grew stronger together every day? And every night. Every night was different, and every morning. Together they possessed a miracle.”

TwoDifferentTogetherNightMorningGrewMiracleStrongerTwo ThingsPossessedEvery NightEvery MorningStronger Together
Book:The Price of Salt: (Illustrated Edition)
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“January. It was all things. And it was one thing, like a solid door. Its cold sealed the city in a gray capsule. January was moments, and January was a year. January rained the moments down, and froze them in her memory: [...]Every human action seemed to yield a magic. January was a two-faced month, jangling like jester's bells, crackling like snow crust, pure as any beginning, grim as an old man, mysteriously familiar yet unknown, like a word one can almost but not quite define.”

MenYearsHumansTwoMomentsActionMemoriesCitiesDoorsMagicOne ThingMonthsColdPureAll ThingsDown AndSnowFamiliarYieldOld ManGrayBellsGrimJanuaryHuman ActionsJester
Author:Patricia Highsmith
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“They were not friends. They didn't know each other. It struck Tom like a horrible truth, true for all time, true for the people he had known in the past and for those he would know in the future: each had stood and would stand before him, and he would know time and time again that he would never know them, and the worst was that there would always be the illusion, for a time, that he did know them, and that he and they were completely in harmony and alike. For an instant the wordless shock of his realization seemed more than he could bear.”

PeopleKnowsPastKnownWorstBearsIllusionHarmonyHorribleAll TimeRealizationInstantShockTomsNot Friends
Book:Talented Mr. Ripley ; Ripley under ground ; Ripley's game
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