The Silent Land Quotes

“The blood in my veins is frozen but it sings of love.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“They were an end-of-days couple, not naked in a garden but wrapped in layers in a snow-covered landscape where there were no more apples on the trees and women would no longer have to take the blame because the old lie had been covered over by snow.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“She couldn't see him, but his voice was like light through a stained-glass window in a cathedral.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“Someone said that thirty was a significant birthday, and everyone around the table agreed. Someone else said it was the first time you heard the bell.
What bell? someone asked.
But they all knew what bell. It was like you'd already completed a few laps, observed another, but this was the first time you'd properly heard the bell. There had been one at seven, but you hadn't heard it because you were so young; and then one at fourteen but you hadn't heard it because you were too busy looking over your shoulder; then another at twenty-one but you hadn't heard it because you were too busy talking; and then one at twenty-eight which for some reason took two years before you heard it. But they all agreed you did hear that one, eventually.
Your lousy career, said one guest. Babies, said one of the women. Lovers, friends, travel, said another. Parents aging. Bong. All the things you hadn't done. Might not do. Bong.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“The awesome silence of the place crept up on her. The spruce and pines, all still laden with snow, spread their limbs in a frozen ballet, breathing a ghostly incense from dark, arid chapels sheltered by their branches.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“The mist hung in the air like a prancing unicorn.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“I can tell you a dozen different stories. This is what we are: a collection of stories that we share, in common. This is what we are to each other.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“This is what we are: a collection stories that we share, in common. This is what we are to each other.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“You don't understand. Speaking, talking--language, that is--represents the most orderly, civilized, and rational expression of human nature. All this foul-mouthed cussing is a gap where you can't think of anything to say. It's the opposite of being rational and ordered. The very opposite. It wants to unpick civilized behavior, rationality, and order.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“There are certain songs, and books, and films that are like points of high ground in the memory. Like they are even larger than your own experiences. They never go away.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“Jake, we haven't tried for awhile."
"Tried what?"
"Just to walk out."
"No."
"Why haven't we?"
"Because we're in a place where a horse shits rainbows."
"Right.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land

“Todo lo que oyes o ves o tocas o hueles está ligado a una historia, una historia que yo puedo contarte. Si dices «beicon», puedo contarte una historia. Si dices «nieve», puedo contarte una docena de historias distintas. Eso somos: una serie de historias que hemos compartido, que tenemos en común. Eso somos el uno para el otro.”
― Graham Joyce, The Silent Land