What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Fragile Things
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
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SOLVED. Quotation-Hunting, Pity and Color. [s]
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When I put those keywords in for the dreams quote on Google Books search there are quite a few possibilities (I also tried with the UK spelling colour), so if you haven't looked there you might like to give it a try. I couldn't find anything good for the other quote there though!
Rosa wrote: “The second one sounds like something Cyrano de Bergerac would say.”It does, in fact, but I can’t find it, unfortunately. The quotation might have been well-known and simply quoted in the book I’m remembering. I seem to remember a hero, like a swashbuckler, saying it.
SBC wrote: “When I put those keywords in for the dreams quote on Google Books search there are quite a few possibilities (I also tried with the UK spelling colour), so if you haven’t looked there you might lik…”I have tried it, but I can try again… What are some examples? (Thank you, by the way.)
I should also note, for the dreams quote, I don’t think the book itself had any connection to dreams. It was just–I dunno, something of a wistful aside the author put in. For some reason I don’t think the book was fiction.
As for the second one, on pity, I think it was from a work of fiction; I’m almost positive it was English and an adventure story, but I can’t remember what, of course. One of the things the speaker might have accepted was the other person’s “contempt,” and I think the phrase “damn your” was also used–“damn your impertinence” or “damn your eyes,” something like that. Basically, he’d accept anything but the other person’s pity. It was supposed to be witty, and a found a similar (though not identical) Shaw quote about love, but that’s not it.
Rosa (et al.)I was able to track down the “pity” one. It comes from John Dickson Carr’s The Crooked Hinge (1935):
“I do not dwell on this part of it, for I would not have you think I am asking for pity or sympathy: the notion angers me furiously. I feel like the man in the play: Your liking I will have if I can. Your respect I will have or kill you. But your pity? Damn your impudence!”
Now if only I knew what play the character and his author were referencing!
The only thing I could find is from this blog posthttp://andthenweallhadtea.blogspot.co...
"Funny how having a really pleasant dream just before waking up can colour your whole day, much like having an unpleasant dream can do."
The author of the blog has one published book but it's a recipe book (and a bunch of others that she calls " Cookbooklets")
Mai wrote: “The only thing I could find is from this blog posthttp://andthenweallhadtea.blogspot.co...
“Funny how having a really pleasant dream just before waking up c…”
Thanks, but not that–definitely not from a blog post or a cookbook. Thank you, though–and the quote’s close.
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman?Page 65:
"Recounting the strange is like telling one's dreams: one can communicate the events of a dream, but not the emotional content, the way that a dream can colour one's entire day"
Aha! That may be it, Mai—I know I’ve read that book. Excellent, and thank you!
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (other topics)Cyrano de Bergerac (other topics)
Cyrano de Bergerac (other topics)
The first is a quotation I’ve been using for years, without ever really remembering where it comes from. The author is talking about dreams, specifically “…the way a dream can color your whole day.”
I like it because it uses color in an unusual but extremely appropriate way: it gets to the heart of what I mean when I talk about how the mood of a dream affects a person.
The second I thought was from a Sherlock Holmes story, but I don’t think so anymore. The speaker is listing qualities he doesn’t mind being attributed to him, but then he says, “But your pity–never!”
It’s an “I can take anything but your pity” quotation, but I can’t for the life of me remember where it’s from.
Anyone know these? Thanks in advance.