Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Joyce Cary

Quote by Joyce Cary

“Why,' I said, quite surprised by my own eloquence in inventing all this stuff, 'it happens every day. The old old story. Boys and girls fall in love, that is, they are driven mad and go blind and deaf and see each other not as human animals with comic noses and bandy legs and voices like frogs, but as angels so full of shining goodness that like hollow turnips with candles put into them, they seem miracles of beauty. And the next minute the candles shoot out sparks and burn their eyes. And they seem to each other like devils, full of spite and cruelty. And they will drive each other mad unless they have grown some imagination. Even enough to laugh.”

Quote by Joyce Cary

Book:THE HORSE'S MOUTH
Create image

Work

THE HORSE'S MOUTH

The Horse's Mouth is a satirical novel that delves into the complexities of human nature, particularly the tendency to deceive oneself. The narrative is centered around a writer who struggles with authenticity and the search for truth in his own life and work. more

Author

Joyce Cary
Joyce Cary

Joyce Cary was a British novelist known for his intricate explorations of human relationships and the social dynamics of his era. Born on December 7, 1888, in Bombay, India, Cary spent a significant part of his life in Nigeria before returning to England. His most celebrated novel, 'Mister Johnson,' was published in 1932 and is regarded as a classic of English literature. more

You May Also Like

“They're brainless girls, otherwise they wouldn't be seen dead here. They're pretty, with ugly, appealing smiles and conversations we can't hear. They breathe smoke and blow it out, and words drop from their mouths and get crushed to the floor. Or they get discarded, just to glow with warmth for a moment, for someone else to tread on later.”

MouthsWordsUglyBreatheSmokeGirlsSmilesDiscardedConversationsPretty
Book:Fighting Ruben Wolfe
Create image

“IT helps to think of the whole development thing as a process; you go in looking like a girl, and you'll come out at the other end looking like a woman. The stuff in the middle is just what everyone goes through, it;s almost never much fun.”

Growing UpAdviceGirls
Book:Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters
Create image

“This one had come to me, though, picked me out. I thought she was trouble from the start. I don't read minds and I can't see the future, but call it instinct or experience, something was prickling my spine. You could call it something else, if you wanted: adolescence, hormones, lust. Being seventeen. That doesn't go away, however long you practice. "Hullo," I said politely, warily. She was long and slim and very neatly put together, dark hair tumbling over denim, old worn black jacket and jeans that somehow hadn't faded into grey. They probably didn't dare. Right from the start I saw a focus in her, a determination that must go all the way through, like the writing in a stick of Brighton rock. In another world, another lifetime, I thought she'd have raven-feathers in her hair, a bear's tooth on a thong about her. She'd be the village shaman, talking to spirits, and even the headman would be afraid of her, a little... Seventeen, I told you. She was devastating to me, she was sitting at my table, and I couldn't afford her. Not for a minute. If I'd stood up, if I'd left, if I'd run away... Nah. She would just have come after me. Faster, fitter, and on longer legs. What chance did I ever have?”

GirlsSeventeen
Book:Desdaemona
Create image