The Stories of Paul Bowles Quotes

“One can only worry so much, however; then one becomes philosophical. I suppose philosophy is merely sublimated worry.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles

“The man looked at him dispassionately in the gray morning light. With one hand he pinched together the Professor’s nostrils. When the Professor opened his mouth to breathe, the man swiftly seized his tongue and pulled on it with all his might. The Professor was gagging and catching his breath; he did not see what was happening. He could not distinguish the pain of the brutal yanking from that of the sharp knife. Then there was an endless choking and spitting that went on automatically, as though he were scarcely a part of it.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles: Masterful 20th Century American Short Stories with Mythic Intensity

“What words are there to tell how long a night can be?”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles

“Frightfulness is never more than an unfamiliar pattern.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles

“It seems to me that if one could accept existence as it is, partake of it fully, the world could be magical. The cricket on my balcony at the moment piercing the night repeatedly with its hurried needle of sound, would be welcome merely because it is there, rather than an annoyance because it distracts me from what I am trying to do.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles: Masterful 20th Century American Short Stories with Mythic Intensity

“When they had gone the Moungari fell silent, to wait through the cold hours for the sun that would bring first warmth, then heat, thirst, fire, visions. The next night he did not know where he was, did not feel the cold. The wind blew dust along the ground into his mouth as he sang.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles: Masterful 20th Century American Short Stories with Mythic Intensity

“The aching nostalgia for her own youth remained—the bright Andalusian days when each hour was filled to bursting with the promise of magic, when her life lay ahead of her, inexhaustible, as yet untouched.”
― Paul Bowles, The Stories of Paul Bowles