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Stranger Quotes

Browse 1928 quotes about Stranger.

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Stranger Quotes

“But what Dakota most enjoyed about the beginning of winter was the crispness of the air (that practically demanded the wearing of knits) and the way that tough New Yorkers - on the street, in elevators, in subways - were suddenly willing to risk a smile. To make a connection with a stranger. To finally see one another after strenuously avoiding eye contact all year.”

WayYearsEyeRiskAirStreetsWillingToughConnectionsWinterStrangerChristmasContactEnjoyedAvoidingNew YorkersSubwayElevatorsEye ContactDakota
Book:Knit the Season
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“Nothing can be sadder or more profound than to see a thousand things for the first and last time. To journey is to be born and die each minute...All the elements of life are in constant flight from us, with darkness and clarity intermingled, the vision and the eclipse; we look and hasten, reaching out our hands to clutch; every happening is a bend in the road...and suddenly we have grown old. We have a sense of shock and gathering darkness; ahead is a black doorway; the life that bore us is a flagging horse, and a veiled stranger is waiting in the shadows to unharness us.”

FirstsLooksHandsLastsDiesWaitingBlackBornVisionDarknessJourneyMinutesThousandElementsHappeningsShadowHorseConstantProfoundStrangerFlightClarityReachingShockReach OutBoresLast TimeGatheringDoorwaysEclipseClutchFirsts And LastsBends In The RoadElements Of Life
Author:Victor Hugo
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“I hated motorcycles. I said to my mother, 'I'll never get a motorcycle.' And she said, 'You never know what you'll want when you are older.' After that, the thing that scared me was not so much the motorcycle itself, but that I could turn into a person who would want one. I was scared of the idea that I could become an entirely different person, a stranger to myself.”

KnowsWantPersonsSaidIdeasDifferentMotherTurnsScaredStrangerHatedMotorcycle
Author:Ann Brashares
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“Who's they?" He wanted to know. "Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?" "Every one of them," Yossarian told him. "Every one of whom?" "Every one of whom do you think?" "I haven't any idea." "Then how do you know they aren't?" "Because..." Clevinger sputtered, and turned speechless with frustration. Clevinger really thought he was right, but Yossarian had proof, because strangers he didn't know shot at him with cannons every time he flew up into the air to drop bombs on them, and it wasn't funny at all.”

ThinkingKnowsTryingIdeasWantedAirHavensShotsMurderStrangerProofBombsFrustrationDo You KnowFlewParanoiaCannonsSpeechlessYossarianFlew Up
Author:Joseph Heller
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“Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch, a loved one, a friend or even a stranger who was once kind, who offered warm food or a bright smile when one of us had needed it. And when I wasn’t watching I could hear the others talking to those they loved on Earth: just as fruitlessly as me, I’m afraid. A one-sided card cajoling and coaching of the young, a one way loving and desiring of their mates, a single-sided card that could never get signed.”

WayKindEarthYoungHeavenTalkingWatchesNeededStrangerWarmCardsOne WayCoachingMatesLoved OnesOne SidedBright Smiles
Author:Alice Sebold
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“People said that video games were bad because they made you numb to death, made you register entrails splattering across a screen as a sign of success. In that moment, Val thought that the real problem with games was that the player was suppossed to try everything. If there was a cave, you went in it. If there was a mysterious stranger, you talked to him. If there was a map, you followed it. But in games, you had a hundred million billion lives and Val only had this one.”

PeopleIfsTryingMadeSaidRealMomentsProblemGamesMillionsPlayerHundredStrangerScreensBillionsVideoMysteriousMapsThat MomentCavesNumbRegisterReal Problems
Author:Holly Black
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“For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men. This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass.”

KnowsMenStillsKnownCenturyColdFingersGlassesStrangerSurfaceTouchedOutsidersPolishedAbominationGildedUnyielding
Book:The Outsider, Pickman’s Model, The Rats in the Walls, The Silver Key
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“I'm somewhat socially inept. Slide me between two strangers at any light-hearted jamboree and I'll either rock awkwardly and silently on my heels, or come out with a stone-cold conversation-killer like, "This room's quite rectangular, isn't it?" I glide through the social whirl with all the elegance of a dog in high heels”

TwoLightSocialRoomsRocksDogColdConversationStonesStrangerKillersHeelsEleganceSlidesHeartedHigh HeelsLight HeartedStone Cold
Book:Dawn of the Dumb
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“I am learning to see. I don't know why it is, but everything enters me more deeply and doesn't stop where it once used to. I have an interior that I never knew of... What's the use of telling someone that I am changing? If I'm changing, I am no longer who I was; and if I am something else, it's obvious that I have no acquaintances. And I can't possibly write to strangers.”

IfsKnowsWritingI CanUseUsedObviousStrangerInteriorsAcquaintance
Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
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“Why do you tolerate it? (Kat) The same reason Sin hasn’t resigned himself to death. There are six billion people on earth who need someone to protect them from things that are scarier than the tax man or a knife-wielding stranger. Things that a gun won’t stop. As long as their lives hang in the balance, what’s a little humiliation for me? (Acheron)”

PeopleMenNeedsLittlesLongReasonEarthSinBalanceProtectTaxesSixGunStrangerBillionsKnivesTolerateHumiliationResigned
Author:Sherrilyn Kenyon
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“The Detective was different. Not that he wasn't a good man; Willie had heard enough about him to understand that he was the kind who didn't like to turn away from another's pain, the kind who couldn't put a pillow over his ears to drown out the cries of strangers. Those scars he had were badges of courage, and Willie knew that there were others hidden beneath his clothes, and still more deep inside, right beneath the skin and down to the soul. No, it was just that whatever goodness was there coexisted with rage and grief and loss.”

MenKindStillsDifferentSoulEnoughPainTurnsLossGriefHeardCryGoodnessClothesSkinsEarsStrangerRageGood ManGrief And LossScarPillowDetectivesDeep InsideBadges
Author:John Connolly
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“If I am ever to find these trees meaningful I must have you by the hand. As it is, they stretch dusty fingers into an obscure sky, and the snow looks up like a face dirtied with tears. Should I cry out and see what happens? There could only be a stranger wandering in this landscape, cold, unfortunate, himself frozen fast in wintry eyes.”

IfsShouldLooksHandsHappensEyeFacesTreeSkyCryTearsColdFingersStrangerMeaningfulSnowWanderLandscapeLook UpShould IUnfortunateObscureFrozen
Book:Meditations in an Emergency
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“See," he began, leaning back into the booth, "I was at this car dealership today, and I saw this girl. It was an across-a-crowded-room kind of thing. A real moment, you know?" I rolled my eyes. Chloe said, "And this would be Remy?" "Right. Remy," he said, repeating my name with a smile. Then, as if we were happy honeymooners recounting our story for strangers he added, "Do you want to tell the next part?" "No," I said flatly.”

IfsKnowsWantKindSaidRealMomentsStoriesWould BeEyeTodayGirlNextNamesRoomsSawsCarStrangerCrowdedChloeThis GirlLeaning BackHoneymooners
Book:This Lullaby
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“In the ordinary jumble of my literary drawer, I sometimes find texts I wrote ten, fifteen, or even more years ago. And many of them seem to me written by a stranger: I simply do not recognize myself in them. There was a person who wrote them, and it was I. I experienced them, but it was in another life, from which I just woke up, as if from someone else's dream.”

IfsWritingYearsPersonsSometimesDreamSeemsWrittenTenOrdinaryYears AgoStrangerFifteenDrawersAnother Life
Author:Fernando Pessoa
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“Haunted Gulp down your wine, old friends of mine, Roar through the darkness, stamp and sing And lay ghost hands on everything, But leave the noonday's warm sunshine To living lads for mirth and wine. I met you suddenly down the street, Strangers assume your phantom faces, You grin at me from daylight places, Dead, long dead, I'm ashamed to greet Dead men down the morning street.”

MenLongHandsFacesMorningDarknessStreetsMinesMetsWineLaysAssumingStrangerWarmGhostAshamedSunshineStampsDaylightOld FriendsPhantomsDead ManLadMirth
Book:Country Sentiment
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“In the past seven years of love-making he had heard the words "I love you" so many times: from the mouths of widows and children, from prostitutes, family friends, travelers, and adulterous wives. Women said "I love you" without his ever speaking. "The more you love someone," he came to think, "the harder it is to tell them." It surprised him that strangers didn't stop each other on the street to say "I love you".”

ThinkingYearsChildrenSaidPastWifeHeardStreetsLove YouMouthsHarderSevenStrangerTravelerSeven YearsLove SomeoneWidowsLove MakingFamily FriendsSay I Love YouYears Of Love
Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
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“When you're walking home at night, do you even get creeped out and even though it's silly and embarrassing you just want to run home?" It seemed too secret and personal to admit to virtual stranger, but I told her, "Yeah, totally." For a moment, she was quiet. Then she grabbed my hand, whispered, "Run run run run run," and took off, pulling me behind her.”

WantRealMomentsHomeHandsRunningNightSecretBehindsWalkingQuietYeahStrangerSillyPullingEmbarrassingWalking Home
Book:Looking for Alaska
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“She knew I could tell with one glance, one look, one simple instant. It was her eyes. Despite the thick makeup, they were still dark-rimmed., haunted, and sad. Most of all though, they were familiar. The fact that we were in front of hundreds of strangers changed nothing at all. I'd spent a summer with those same eyes-scared, lost, confused-staring back at me. I would have known them anywhere.”

LooksStillsFactsEyeLostDarkSimpleKnownFrontsChangedSummerScaredStrangerFamiliarDespiteStaringInstantConfusedMakeupThickHer EyesGlances
Book:Just Listen: A Novel
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“The tiny space, the toilet, two hundred strangers just a few inches away, it's so exciting, the lack of room to maneuver, it helps if you're double-jointed. Use your imagination. Some creativity and a few simple stretching exercises and you can be knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door. You'll be amazed how time flies.”

IfsTwoHelpingUseHeavenImaginationSimpleSpaceRoomsCreativityDoorsExerciseHundredExcitingStrangerTinyInchesAmazedToiletsStretchingTime FliesHow Time Flies
Book:Choke: A Novel
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