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Instant Quotes

“Anyone who can read history with both hemispheres of the brain knows that a world comes to an end every instant--the waves of time leave washed up behind themselves only dry memories of a closed & petrified past--imperfect memory, itself already dying & autumnal. And every instant also gives birth to a world--despite the cavillings of philosophers & scientists whose bodies have grown numb--a present in which all impossibilities are renewed, where regret & premonition fade to nothing in one presential hologrammatical psychomantric gesture.”

KnowsWorldGivingEndsBodyPastMemoriesBehindsBrainDyingRegretBirthScientistWavePhilosopherDespiteInstantDryImperfectGesturesFadesImpossibilityNumbHemispherePremonition
Book:T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
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“And then I feel as if I'm witnessing a miracle, as ever so slowly she raises her face towards the moon. I watch her drink in the sight, sensing the flood of memories she's unleashed and wanting nothing more than to let her know I'm here. But instead I stay where I am and stare up at the moon as well. And for the briefest instant, it almost feels like we're together again.”

IfsKnowsFeelsWellsTogetherFacesMemoriesWatchesDrinkMoonSightMiracleRaisesStaringInstantFloodUnleashedTogether AgainSensing
Author:Nicholas Sparks
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“Who claims Truth, Truth abandons. History is hir'd, or coerc'd, only in Interests that must ever prove base. She is too innocent, to be left within the reach of anyone in Power,- who need but touch her, and all her Credit is in the instant vanish'd, as if it had never been. She needs rather to be tended lovingly and honorably by fabulists and counterfeiters, Ballad-Mongers and Cranks of ev'ry Radius, Masters of Disguise to provide her the Costume, Toilette, and Bearing, and Speech nimble enough to keep her beyond the Desires, or even the Curiosity, of Government.”

IfsNeedsEnoughGovernmentDesireLeftInterestMastersProveSpeechClaimsCuriosityCreditInnocentInstantAbandonDisguiseCostumesBalladsCrankNimbleRadius
Author:Thomas Pynchon
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“She bent her finger and then straightened it. The mystery was in the instant before it moved, the dividing moment between not moving and moving, when her intention took effect. It was like a wave breaking. If she could only find herself at the crest, she thought, she might find the secret of herself, that part of her that was really in charge. She brought her forefinger closer to her face and stared at it, urging it to move. It remained still because she was pretending... . And when she did crook it finally, the action seemed to start in the finger itself, not in some part of her mind.”

IfsMindStillsMomentsMightActionFacesMovingSecretMysteryEffectsMovedIntentionFingersWaveInstantPretendingBentDividingCrooksWaves Breaking
Author:Ian Mcewan
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“Though men in the mass forget the origins of their need, they still bring wolfhounds into city apartments, where dog and man both sit brooding in wistful discomfort. The magic that gleams an instant between Argos and Odysseus is both the recognition of diversity and the need for affection across the illusions of form. It is nature's cry to homeless, far-wandering, insatiable man: "Do not forget your brethren, nor the green wood from which you sprang. To do so is to invite disaster.”

MenNeedsStillsFormForgetCitiesMagicDogCryDiversityMassIllusionGreenAffectionWoodsDisasterWanderRecognitionInstantInvitesApartmentHomelessDiscomfortBrethrenInsatiableGleamBroodingOdysseus
Author:Loren Eiseley
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“She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air. (last lines)”

LastsFatherVoiceLinesHeardAirTreeDogFilledDistanceTerrorInstantOfficersBeesSpursPorchOdorChainedOld DogCavalry
Book:The Awakening & Other Short Stories
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“Shigure: JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR A SECOND, KYO! Kyo: SHUT UP! I HATE THIS! DO YOU REALLY GET THAT MUCH ENJOYMENT FROM PLAYING WITH PEOPLES' LIVES?! Shigure: Well, yes, now that you mention it, I do--BUT THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! Kyo: Man, your persuasion skills SUCK! Tohru: Um, welcome home. Dinner's- Kyo: NOT HUNGRY! Shigure: KYO! DON'T TAKE THIS OUT ON TOHRU! And come back to the entrance hall this instant and take those shoes off! Yuki: He's right, Shigure. You really do suck at persuasion.”

MenWellsHomeHateSkillsI HateShoesDinnerHungryWelcomeInstantEnjoymentHallsShut UpPersuasionEntrancesJust ListenListen To MeWelcome Home
Author:Natsuki Takaya
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“At that instant he knew that all his doubts, even the impossibility of believing with his reason, of which he was aware in himself, did not in the least hinder his turning to God. All of that now floated out of his soul like dust. To whom was he to turn if not to Him in whose hands he felt himself, his soul, and his love?”

IfsBelieveSoulReasonHandsTurnsFeltDoubtDustInstantHis LoveImpossibilityHinder
Book:Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's Collections
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“It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of reason begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him.”

MenNeedsYearsLittlesSoulStatesReasonMotherAnimalChildhoodCenturyPureEternityTwentiesStructureMaturityInstantThirtyVegetablesWombEarly Childhood
Book:The Portable Voltaire
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“No," he said calmly, filled with purpose. he took her arms lightly in his hands and shook her. "I am not giving you up." Emily looked at him, and for just a moment he could read her thoughts. Melanie use to say they were like twins, with their own secret, silent language. in that instant, Chris felt her fear and her resignation, and the knotty pain of coming up against a brick wall again and again. She glanced away, and he could breathe again. "The thing is, Chris" Emily said, "it's not your choice.”

GivingSaidMomentsUseHandsPainPurposeChoicesLanguageFeltSecretWallArmsFilledSilentBreatheInstantAgain And AgainTwinsBricksResignationEmilyBrick Wall
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.”

GivingDoneEnoughLightNightTimeDiesBornBirthOne DayBlindGravesDumbInstantDeafGleamGodotWaiting For Godot
Author:Samuel Beckett
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“A journey, after all, neither begins in the instant we set out, nor ends when we have reached our door step once again. It starts much earlier and is really never over, because the film of memory continues running on inside of us long after we have come to a physical standstill. Indeed, there exists something like a contagion of travel, and the disease is essentially incurable.”

LongEndsRunningFilmMemoriesStepsDoorsJourneyDiseaseInstantContagionStandstill
Author:Ryszard Kapuscinski
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“This cell belongs to a brain, and it is my brain, the brain of me who is writing; and the cell in question, and within it the atom in question, is in charge of my writing, in a gigantic minuscule game which nobody has yet described. It is that which at this instant, issuing out of a labyrinthine tangle of yeses and nos, makes my hand run along a certain path on the paper, mark it with these volutes that are signs: a double snap, up and down, between two levels of energy, guides this hand of mine to impress on the paper this dot, here, this one.”

WritingTwoHandsRunningCertainGamesEnergyLevelsBrainPathMinesPaperMarkGuidesCellsInstantAtomsImpressUp And DownSnapsDots
Author:Primo Levi
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“I saw what I had been fighting for: It was for me, a scared child, who had run away a long time ago to what I had imagined was a safer place. And hiding in this place, behind my invisible barriers, I knew what lay on the other side: Her side attacks. Her secret weapons. Her uncanny ability to find my weakest spots. But in the brief instant that I had peered over the barriers I could finally see what was finally there: an old woman, a wok for her armor, a knitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in.”

ChildrenLittlesLongRunningFightingSidesAbilitySecretBehindsSawsWeaponsLong TimeDaughterLaysScaredInvisibleSpotsInstantBarriersHidingInvitesRunning AwayLong Time AgoNeedlesArmorOld WomanKnittingUncannyKnitting Needles
Book:The Joy Luck Club
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“The Lesson You've Got to learn is the someday you'll someday stagger to, blinking in cold light, all tears shed, ready to poke your bovine head in the yoke they've shaped. Everyone learns this. Born, everyone breathes, pays tax, plants dead and hurts galore. There's grief enough for each. My mother learned by moving man to man, outlived them all. The parched earth's bare (once she leaves it) of any who watched the instants I trod it. Other than myself, of course. I've made a study of bearing and forbearance. Everyone does, it turns out, and note those faces passing by: Not one's a god.”

MenDoeMadeEnoughLightEarthFacesMovingMotherTurnsCoursesBornHurtGriefPayStudyTearsReadyColdLessonsTaxesPlantNotesBreathePassingPassingsInstantSomedayShedYokePokeForbearancePassing ByBovine
Author:Mary Karr
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“Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile...But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.”

MenFeelsHumansTwoMomentsNextHuman BeingsPoorDoorsConditionsCarNeighborSatisfiedInstantWealthySensationsDeprivedAutomobileBicycle
Author:Alan Lightman
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“Bliss - a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious - lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom.”

JoyLyingSidesBlackWaterWhitePayAttentionKnownAliveColorLike YouReturnGratitudeTaxesConsciousGolfWaveDesertBoredBlissInstantBoredomCrushOver YouAtomsBlack And WhiteTediousTax ReturnsJoy And Gratitude
Author:David Foster Wallace
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“Exhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her. "Good-by--because I love you." He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet would have understood if she had seen him--but it was too late; the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone. She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again.”

IfsKnowsBehindsGoneLove YouLateUnderstoodDoctorsDistanceTerrorInstantToo LateShoreExhaustionOverpowering
Book:CliffsComplete The Awakening
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“Lucas should've run out of there that instant. Instead he stared at me through the glass and slowly unfolded his hand opposite mine so that our hands were pressed againts the pane of glass, fingers to fingers, palm to palm. We each move closer, so that our faces were only inches apart. Even with the stained glass, window between us, it felt as intimate as any kiss we'd shared.”

ShouldHandsRunningFacesMovingFeltMinesKissingWindowOppositesFingersGlassesIntimateInstantInchesPalmsStained GlassStained Glass Windows
Author:Claudia Gray
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“The boy was lying, fast asleep, on a rude bed upon the floor; so pale with anxiety, and sadness, and the closeness of his prison, that he looked like death; not death as it shews in shroud and coffin, but in the guise it wears when life has just departed; when a young and gentle spirit has, but an instant, fled to Heaven: and the gross air of the world has not had time to breathe upon the changing dust it hallowed.”

WorldYoungSpiritLyingHeavenBoysAirSadnessBedAnxietyPrisonBreatheDustGentleInstantPaleRudeGrossClosenessCoffinsGuiseDepartedShroudsGentle Spirit
Book:Oliver Twist: Classic English Literature
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“You know what I noticed when I was with Jacob? In your world, people can reach each other in an instant. There's the telephone, and the fax - and on the computer you can talk to someone all the way around the world. You've got people telling their secrets on TV talk shows, and magazines that publish pictures of movie stars trying to hide their homes. All those connections, but everyone there seems so lonely.”

PeopleKnowsWorldWayTryingShowsHomeSeemsStarsSecretTvsComputerLonelyConnectionsMagazinesAround The WorldInstantTelephonesMovie StarPublishJacobTalk ShowsSo LonelyFax
Book:Plain Truth
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“I rented Ghostbusters, my all-time favorite inspirational movie. I picked up some microwave, popcorn, a KitKat, a bag of bite-sized Reese's peanut butter cups, and a box of instant hot chocolate with marshmallows. Do I know how to have a good time, or what?”

KnowsKnow HowHotBoxesAll TimeCupsInstantGood TimesBagsChocolateBitesHaving A Good TimePeanutsPopcornPeanut ButterMicrowavesMarshmallowHot ChocolateAll Time Favorite
Book:Two For The Dough: A Stephanie Plum Novel
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“After he made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to everyone he knew saying that he was in the hospital but never mentioning why. One day he had a better idea. To everyone he knew he wrote that he was going on a very dangerous mission. "They asked for volunteers. It's very dangerous, but someone has to do it. I'll write you the instant I get back." And he had not written anyone since.”

WritingMindMadeIdeasWarWrittenDangerousOne DayLettersMissionsInstantHospitalsGet BackVolunteerYossarian
Book:Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition
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“The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men,' he said. 'It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds, and bad deeds. Men are just men - it is what they do, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil. The truth is that an instant of real love, in the heart of anyone - the noblest man alive or the most wicked - has the whole purpose and process and meaning of life within the lotus-folds of its passion. The truth is that we are all, every one of us, every atom, every galaxy, and every particle of matter in the universe, moving toward God.”

MenHeartSaidRealMatterWholeMovingPurposeUniversePassionEvilProcessAliveTruth IsGoodnessRefuseDeedsInstantMeaning Of LifeWickedGood And EvilGood ManLinksAtomsReal LoveGalaxyGood DeedsParticlesFoldsShantaramBad ManBadnessLotusesNo Good Men
Book:Shantaram: A Novel
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“If, for example, I saw my grandparents or my daughter for an instant, would I recognize them? Probably not, because in looking so hard for a way to keep them alive, remembering them in the most minimal details, I have been changing them, adorning them with qualities they may not have had. I have given them a destiny much more complex than the ones they lived.”

IfsWayMayHas BeensHardRememberGivenQualityDestinySawsAliveExampleDaughterComplexesDetailsInstantMy DaughterGrandparent
Book:My invented country: a memoir
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“How often, you wonder, has the direction of your life been shaped by such misunderstandings? How many opportunities have you been denied--or, for that matter, awarded--because someone failed to see you properly? How many friends have you lost, how many have you gained, because they glimpsed some element of your personality that shone through for only an instant, and in circumstances you could never reproduce? An illusion of water shimmering at the far bend of a highway.”

MatterOpportunityLostWaterWonderPersonalityCircumstancesElementsIllusionInstantDeniedMisunderstandingHighwaysMany Friends
Book:The View from the Seventh Layer: Stories
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“What were the odds that she'd turn away at the same instant the ball came flying her way? And that she'd be holding a soda in a crowd at a volleyball game she didn't even want to watch, in a place she didn't want to be? In a million years, the same thing should probably never happen again. With odds like that, she should have bought a lottery ticket.”

WayWantShouldYearsHappensTurnsGamesWatchesMillionsShould HaveBallsCrowdsFlyingInstantOddsTicketsVolleyballLotterySodaLottery Ticket
Author:Nicholas Sparks
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