Across the Nightingale Floor Quotes

“The less people think of you, the more they will reveal to you or in your presence.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“But just as the river is always at the door, so is the world always outside. And it is in the world that we have to live.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“How was it possible for the world to be so beautiful and so cruel at the same time?”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“I believe the test of government is the contentment of the people.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“When illusions are shattered by truth, talent is set free.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“The painter had achieved what we would all like to do: capture time and make it stand still”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“It's what you do to yourself when you go mad with rage. You have no idea how much you can hurt yourself with your own strength.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“Don't you know the man whose life you spare will always hate you?”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“I learned embroidery," Kaede said, "But you can't kill anyone with a needle."

"You can," Shizuka said offhandedly. "I'll show you one day.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“The world is always outside. And it is in the world that we must live.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“Shame, however, was what I felt seeping through me as though it stained my white bones black.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“Death comes suddenly and life is fragile and brief. No one can alter this, either by prayers or spells. Children cry about it, but men and women do not cry. They have to endure.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“But at that moment Revenge took me as a pupil. I recognized her at once and learned her lessons instantly. She was what I desired; she would save me from the feeling that I was a living ghost. In that split second I took her into my heart.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“I have no fear of death," Shigeru replied. "But it is wrong to say I am in love with it. Quite the opposite: I think I've proved how much I love life.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“Power brings its own legitimacy.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“I did not want to spend the night on the lonely plain. I was afraid of ten thousand ghosts, and of the ogres and goblins that dwelled in the forest around it. The murmur of a stream sounded to me like the voice of the water spirit, and every time a fox barked or an owl hooted I came awake, my pulse racing.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“Why do women have to suffer this way? Why don’t we have the freedom men have?”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“They reminded me of the people of my village, their indomitable spirit in the face of disaster, their unshakable belief that no matter what might befall them, life was basically good and the world benign.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor

“A cet instant, elle leva les yeux et me regarda. Il me sembla qu'elle était en train de se noyer dans mes yeux, et que si je tendais la main vers elle, je la sauverais.”
― Lian Hearn, Le silence du rossignol

“Il fait bon rentrer chez soi, dit-il d'une voix pai-sible. Mais de même que le fleuve est toujours à notre porte, le monde nous attend toujours dehors. Et c'est dans le monde que nous devons vivre.”
― Lian Hearn, Le silence du rossignol

“Cuando era niño, solía llevar a casa animales del bosque (…) Nunca logré domesticarlos, porque lo único que querían, ciega e irracionalmente, era escapar.”
― Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor