Marcela > Marcela's Quotes

“100 years ago, buying something you could make was considered wasteful; now making something you could buy is considered wasteful. I am not convinced this is a step in the right direction.”
― Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin

“First there wasn't, then there was. Before God no one was.”
― Anita Amirrezvani, The Blood of Flowers

“And we are not mountaintop sages who can live by consuming mist.”
― Mineko Iwasaki, Geisha, a Life

“Cleaning is considered a vital part of the training process in all traditional Japanese disciplines and is a required practice for any novice. It is accorded spiritual significance. Purifying an unclean place is believed to purify the mind.”
― Mineko Iwasaki, Geisha, a Life

“The beauty of Rav Yohanan is not mentioned because Rav Yohanan did not have splendor of face (a beard).”
― Maggie Anton, Miriam

“Azariel didn't know what to say. Most Frenchmen preferred voluptuous women - whose ample breasts proved how well the next generation would be nurtured, between whose thighs they would take their pleasure. Women, in turn, dressed to appear as plump and fruitful as possible. Some even wore neckbands that, when pulled tight, made their chins look doubled. What kind of man wouldn't want a full-figured wife?”
― Maggie Anton, Miriam

“The powdered sugar had caramelized and blackened into a sucking tar pit in which my ladyfingers languished like so many sunk mastadons.”
― Julie Powell, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

“These are the times when we aficionados of the gas stove know we are on the side of God.”
― Julie Powell, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

“It's all about the "French Paradox," that much-publicized puzzle of how French people eat all that fatty food and drink tons of wine, yet still manage to be svelte and sophisticated, not to mention cheese-eating surrender monkeys.”
― Julie Powell

“Isa looked down the river to the Taj Mahal. It shone harshly in the midday sun, the marble glared back at the sky and it stood isolated and alone. It needed a companion of beauty, but there was none in this world. Isa had thought long about the tomb; it had life, it breathed. He imagined the rise and fall of the stone as it sighed. He realized it was lonely. It was a perfect thing in an imperfect world, and that was an awesome burden.”
― Timeri Murari, Taj: A Story of Mughal India

“Deftly whipping a small tuning fork from his pocket, he struck it smartly against a pillar and held it next to Jamie's left ear. Jamie rolled his eyes heavenward, but shrugged and obligingly sang a note. The little man jerked back as though he'd been shot.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber

“Oh, foisted, is it?" cried Mr. Ormiston in righteous indignation. "Such a word! And if it means what I think it does, young man, you should get down on your knees and thank God for such foistingness!”
― Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone

“I thought I could make out Jamie's Highland screech, but that was likely imagination; they all sounded equally demented.”
― Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone

“Character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice.”
― Diana Gabaldon

“The Sun can rise anytime in your dreams. And there night may fall anytime as well.”
― Munia Khan