Patrick Orme > Patrick's Quotes

“5. Then on a rainy day in early July the words she was copying from one of Martha the Benevolent’s ancient sayings spoke to her:
Birds fly free until they are put in a cage, but the cage does not bind their wings
When the cage is opened, the wings spread out, and the bird flies free again
So the poor are trapped in a cage by the avarice of the rich
Not in a cage made of gold, but one of hunger, despair and need
So the prisoner dreams of the wide open spaces
Wind in her hair, breathing in the freedom, beyond the four walls of her cell
Our mission is to free the prisoner, to help the poor to spread their wings
To open the door of the oppressor’s cage, to find a way to a fairer age.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“The early women rise before I do. Their lamps splinter the gloom of the kitchens. They chatter in whispers as they brew tea for the cooks. Windows are open to counter the heat of the ovens. Outside, the sky is as black as my soul.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“It's only in my head, the madness. And there's no way of knowing if all this is going on in everyone else's head too without exposing myself, and I'd rather be insane and on the loose than locked up in a hospital.”
― Sara Pascoe, Weirdo: 'Intense, also BRILLIANT, funny and forensically astute.' Marian Keyes

“Sometimes truths are what we run from, and sometimes they are what we seek.”
― R.D. Ronald, The Elephant Tree

“Teacher,” I said. “Can you feel love?”
― Steven Decker, Child of Another Kind

“Her unexpected outburst rocked Flaminius to his core. Suddenly, she didn't seem so angelic. Her face twisted with rage; veins in her neck throbbed with fury in a scene all too familiar. Her reaction switched him off to her instantly as all his worst fears came to life.”
― Therisa Peimer, Taming Flame

“I gave up on any hope of redemption long ago. Hell, at this point I’m simply waiting to die. So, leave before you waste any more of your time. I can’t and frankly don’t deserve to help you… 
”
― Cade Mengler, The Companions

“A man does not consist of memory alone. He has feeling, will, sensibility, moral being . . . It is here . . . you may touch him, and see a profound change.’ Memory, mental activity, mind alone, could not hold him; but moral attention and action could hold him completely.”
― Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

“No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person.”
― Willa Cather, Alexander's Bridge

“The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he's getting it.”
― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

“Thinking of death--strange, beautiful, terrible and a long way off--made me feel happier than ever.”
― Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

“The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolls and rolls and calls to me. Come in, it says, come in.”
― Sharon Creech, The Wanderer

“Manson maintained, because he was completely paranoid. Being frightened of everything, he missed nothing.”
― Vincent Bugliosi, Helter Skelter