Favorite Literary Quotes (short ones!)

[Dulcamara]

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." (The Godfather)

[Scarbo]

"On an elephant. A dear, meal-sack elephant." - Ford Madox Ford, A Man Could Stand Up

(I would include the sentence after that, but I don't want to give away too much if you haven't read it.)

[maxgal]

"Tell me, what else should I have done?" -- The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

[maxgal]

“If there is a hell to which disputatious, uncivil, vituperative lawyers go, let it be one in which the damned are eternally locked in discovery disputes with other lawyers of equally repugnant attributes.”
--Dahl v. City of Huntington Beach, 84 F.3d 363, 364 (9th Cir. 1996) (cit.om.).

[maxgal]

“...and then they were upon her." -- "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson

[maxgal]

Piemburg’s mediocrity was venomous and waited gently on events. -- Riotous Assembly, Tom Sharpe

[Peter Why]

Too much contact with people brings conflict, hatred, and attachments. To rid myself of inner conflicts and hatreds, I must walk.

Santoka Taneda (zen monk).

[Peter Why]

... and then there's Noel Coward:

There are bad times just around the corner,
There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
And it's no use whining
About a silver lining
For we know from experience that they won't roll by.

Peter

[maxgal]

... and then there's Noel Coward:

There are bad times just around the corner,
There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
And it's no use whining
About a silver lining
For we know from experience that they won't roll by.

Peter

[maxgal]

It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. -- Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (only one of sooooo many greats in this work)

[Dulcamara]

It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. -- Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (only one of sooooo many greats in this work)

[maxgal]

It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. -- Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (only one of sooooo many greats in this work)

OK, since I am encouraged, here's another great one...
"Above the turrets, like a wing ripped from the body of an eagle, a solitary cloud moved northwards through the awakening air quilled with blood."

[txphred]

"...my dreams appall me."

Chapter 1 & opening scene in Wuthering Heights

[zachh]

From "A Gentleman Of Leisure" by P.G. Wodehouse:

Some policemen are born grafters, some achieve graft, and some have graft thrust upon them. Mr. McEachern had begun by being the first, had risen to the second, and for some years now had been a prominent member of the small and hugely-prosperous third-class, the class which does not go out seeking graft, but sits at home and lets graft come to them.

[maxgal]

From "A Gentleman Of Leisure" by P.G. Wodehouse:

Some policemen are born grafters, some achieve graft, and some have graft thrust upon them. Mr. McEachern had begun by being the first, had risen to the second, and for some years now had been a prominent member of the small and hugely-prosperous third-class, the class which does not go out seeking graft, but sits at home and lets graft come to them.