Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Sebastian Barry

Quote by Sebastian Barry

Work

Annie Dunne

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry

Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright known for his profound literary style and unique perspective on history. His works have won numerous literary awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. more

You May Also Like

“Almost worse than the sorrow of missing her was the fact that Mom's death had revealed everything to be meaningless. So much of what I'd thought was true had turned out to be an illusion. I saw people around me living by these illusions— that love and safety could be counted on, that life had meaning and the future could be controlled— and I did not feel that I could ever again share their suspended disbelief. I was swimming against a strong, cold current: I could see them there, playing on a sunny beach, but I couldn't rejoin them. Continuing the struggle seemed not only incredibly painful but, even worse, pointless.”

LossHealingDepressionTraumaDisillusionmentMeaninglessness Of LifeSuspended DisbeliefThe Struggle Of LivingTrauma And Desolation
Book:After the Eclipse: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search
Create image

“I watch Maya sipping her tea and I wonder how many women carry the memory of a child nobody knew but them. How many women grieve alone and in silence, without sympathy or ceremony, too afraid or ashamed to speak of their loss? And why should they feel ashamed, or afraid, or alone? Why are there so many others, when this is common, why isn't it something we talk about? And when it happened to my friend, why didn't I know what to do?”

LossGriefWomanGrief And LossSympathyWomanhoodMiscarriageLoss Of A ChildSympathy Quotes
Book:Out of Love
Create image

“Death simply is. It steals your breath and leaves you for another, giving you not a second thought. Like an absent father, like an emotionless lover, Death does not discriminate its victims, neither loving nor hating. And yet those left alive remain, never quite finding the lost pieces of their souls that Death casually snags along the way.”

DeathLossSnow WhiteLoss Of FamilyPetraFairy Tale RetellingFamily LossLeisl
Book:The Witchling and the Huntswoman
Create image

“All at once – there, at the last moment, no sooner – I realized what my selfishness and Estraven;’s silence had kept from me, where he was going and what he was getting into. I said, “Therem –wait-“ But he was off, downhill: a magnificent fast skier, and this time not holding back for me. He shot away on a long quick curving descent through the shadows over the snow. He ran from me, and straight into the guns of the border-guards. I think they shouted warnings or orders to halt, and a light sprang up somewhere, but I am not sure; in any case he did not stop, but flashed on towards the fence, and they shot him down before he reached it. They did not use the sonic stunners but the foray gun, the ancient weapon that fires a set of metal fragments in a burst. They shot to kill him. He was dying when I got to him, sprawled and twisted away from his skis that stuck up out of the snow, his chest half shot away. I took his head in my arms and spoke to him, but he never answered me; only in a way he answered my love for him, crying out through the silent wreck and tumult of his mind as consciousness lapsed, in the unspoken tongue, once, clearly, "Arel!" Then no more. I held him, crouching there in the snow, while he died. They let me do that. Then they made me get up, and took me off one way and him another, I going to prison and he into the dark.”

LoveDeathLossMurder
Book:The Left Hand of Darkness
Create image

“Why will it not work. What magic word made it work. Who is the keeper of that word. What did it profit Him to switch this one off. What a contraption it is. How did it ever run. What spark ran it. Grand little machine. Set up just so. Receiving the spark, it jumped to life. What put out that spark? What a sin it would be. Who would dare. Ruin such a marvel. Hence is murder anathema. God forbid I should ever commit such a grievous—”

LoveWisdomDeathLossGriefSorrowParenthoodChild
Author:George Sanders
Create image