Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Mark Helprin

Quote by Mark Helprin

“Such a thing as the child left alone to die in the hallway was unknown on the marsh. But here, in the dawn, was mortality itself. In the city were places to fall from which one could never emerge -- dark dreams and slow death, the death of children, suffering without grace or redemption, ultimate and eternal loss. The memory of the child stayed with him. But that was not to be the end of it, for reality went around in a twisting ring. Even the irredeemable would be redeemed, and there was a balance for everything. There had to be.”

Quote by Mark Helprin

Create image

Author

Mark Helprin
Mark Helprin

Mark Helprin is an American novelist born on June 28, 1947. His works are known for their rich imagination, profound philosophical insights, and unique narrative style. more

You May Also Like

“He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her up, though tottering himself. He felt as if his head were filled with smoke; flashes of light slipped through his eyelids; his thoughts vanished; it seemed to him that he was performing a religious act, and that he was committing a profanation. Moreover, he did not feel one passionate desire for this ravishing woman, whose form he felt against his heart. He was lost in love.”

IfsFeelsHeartLightFormDesireLostFeltReligiousArmsFilledPassionateCaughtSmokePerformingUnconsciousLost LoveFlashEyelidsPassionate Desire
Author:Victor Hugo
Create image

“The eye of a man should be still more reverent before the rising of a young maiden than before the rising of a star. The possibility of touch should increase respect. The down of the peach, the dust of the plum, the radiated crystal of snow, the butterfly’s wing powdered with feathers, are gross things beside that chastity that does not even know it is chaste. The young maiden is only the glimmer of a dream and is not yet statue. Her alcove is hidden in the shadows of the ideal. The indiscreet touch of the eye desecrates this dim penumbra. Here, to gaze, is to profane.”

KnowsMenShouldDoeStillsDreamEyeYoungStarsPossibilityShadowIdealsIncreaseWingsSnowDustRisingButterflyFeathersGrossStatuesCrystalsChastityMaidensPeachesProfaneChastePlums
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“There is a determined though unseen bravery that defends itself foot by foot in the darkness against the fatal invasions of necessity and dishonesty. Noble and mysterious triumphs that no eye sees, and no fame rewards, and no flourish of triumph salutes. Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields that have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes.”

SometimesEyePovertyDarknessGreaterFeetHeroFameBraveryRewardsDeterminedNobleMysteriousTriumphIsolationMisfortunesObscureUnseenAbandonmentInvasionDishonestyBattlefieldsSalute
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“At that moment of love, a moment when passion is absolutely silent under omnipotence of ecstasy, Marius, pure seraphic Marius, would have been more capable of visiting a woman of the streets than of raising Cosette’s dress above the ankle. Once on a moonlit night, Cosette stopped to pick up something from the ground, her dress loosened and revealed the swelling of her breasts. Marius averted his eyes.”

Has BeensMomentsEyeNightPassionStreetsPureCapablePicksDressesSilentHis EyesBreastsThat MomentEcstasyVisitingAnklesOmnipotenceSwellingMariusMoments Of LoveCosette
Book:Les Misérables
Create image