Low Town Quotes

“I remember the lightning in the air, and the lovers bidding goodbye to each other in the streets, and I can tell you what I think. We went to war because going to war is fun, because there's something in the human breast that trills at the thought, although perhaps not the reality, of murdering its fellows in vast numbers. Fighting a war ain't fun - fighting a war is pretty miserable. But starting a war? Hell, starting a war is better than a night floating on daeva's honey.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“The dangerous men were still asleep, their blades sheathed next to their beds. The really dangerous men had been up for hours, and their quills and ledgers were getting hard use.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Thus far, the best that could be said for the day was that it was half over.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“If the human race has ever invented an institution more effective in the propagation of intellectual and ethical cripples than the nobility, I have yet to stumble across it.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“There are some things a man can’t fake, and lethality is one of them—a lapdog might learn to howl, even bare its teeth on occasion, but that don’t make it a wolf.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“The Questioner was repacking his tools with a vague air of disappointment. Deciding my legs were steady enough to carry me, I propped myself to my feet, then turned towards my would-be torturer. 'You got a cigarette?' I asked.
He shook his head, the burned red crown of his hood bobbing. 'I don't smoke,' he said without taking his eyes off his work. 'That stuff will kill you.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“I’d heard that in some of the newer mental wards they set the mad and congenitally stupid to rote tasks, having them sew buttons onto mounds of fabric, the futile labor working as a salve to their broken minds. I wonder sometimes whether the guard is not an extension of this therapy on a far grander scale, an elaborate social program meant to give the low functioning an illusion of purpose.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” she began. “Are you mad? I had you last year at Lord Addington’s spring formal! We went behind his pagoda and I took you from the rear. You said I was the best you’d ever had!” The color drained from her face—clearly she didn’t find my scenario entirely implausible. Stammering an explanation she hurried off, leaving me to watch the celebration solo.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Don't you want to know what I saw?" she asked. "Everyone always wants to know what's ahead of them."
"People are fools. You don't need a prophet to tell you the future. Look at yesterday, then look at today. Tomorrow is likely to be the same, and the day after that.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Things happen.” “True, exactly as you say. Things happen.” His eyes traced patterns on the wall behind me, and the fire crackled in the corner. His face took on a wistful quality that tends to augur monologue, and, sure enough, the pregnant pause gave birth to soliloquy.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Jedna misao u mojoj glavi bila je toliko velika da ništa drugo nije moglo zaživjeti i uništila je spokoj koji mi je ostao, a već su ga oslabili prethodni današnji događaji.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“If the human race has ever invented an institution more effective in the propagation of intellectual and ethical cripples than the nobility, I have yet to stumble across it. Take the progeny of a half millennium of inbred idiots, first cousins, and hemophiliacs. Raise them via a series of bloated wet nurses, drink-addled confessors, and failed academics, because Śakra knows Mommy and Daddy are too busy diddling themselves at court to take a hand in the upbringing of a child. Ensure any youthful training they receive extends to nothing more practical than swordsmanship and the study of languages no longer spoken, grant them a fortune upon the attainment of their majority, place them outside the bounds of any legal system more developed than the code duello, add the general human instinct toward sloth, avarice, and bigotry, stir thoroughly and, voilà—you have the aristocracy.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“The dangerous men were mostly still asleep, their blades sheathed next to their beds. The really dangerous men had been up for hours, and their quills and ledgers were getting hard use.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“I snatched a flute of champagne from a passing waiter who harrumphed with disdain. The degree of contempt underlings are willing to muster on behalf of their employers is a source of continual amusement to me.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“If the human race has ever invented an institution more effective in the propagation of intellectual and ethical cripples than the nobility, I have yet to stumble across it. Take the progeny of a half millennium of inbred idiots, first cousins, and hemophiliacs. Raise them via a series of bloated wet nurses, drink-addled confessors, and failed academics, because Śakra knows Mommy and Daddy are too busy diddling themselves at court to take a hand in the upbringing of a child. Ensure any youthful training they receive extends to nothing more practical than swordsmanship and the study of languages no longer spoken, grant them a fortune upon the attainment of their majority, place them outside the bounds of any legal system more developed than the code duello, add the general human instinct toward sloth, avarice, and bigotry, stir thoroughly and, voilà—you have the aristocracy”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Probudio sam se s takvom glavoboljom da je bol u otečenom gležnju bila poput drkanja kurve koja naplaćuje deset okara po satu.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town

“Pogled su mi uzvratile neobične i stravične stvari, beskonačne membrane očiju u nemirnom i bijesnom vrtlogu, otvorene čeljusti koje su bez prestanka pokušavale ugristi beskonačnu crnu prazninu, otvori koji su erotično pulsirali, pipci koji su se stezali i pružali u vječnoj noći. Neugodan cvilež brbljao je na polurazumljivom jeziku, obećavao mi je odvratne darove i zahtijevao još stravičnije žrtve.”
― Daniel Polansky, Low Town