The Night Guest Quotes

“The boat entered the Harbour. The wide, bright city crowded up against the water, but drew back from its very edge; Ruth saw green parklands full of trees with white flocks of parrots burning out of them. The parrots surprised Ruth, she imagined Sydney to be more like England than Fiji.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Yeah,' Phillip would say, 'I'm sure she's the salt of the earth.'

But didn't salt stop the earth from producing greenery? Didn't crops never again grow in fields sown with salt? So who would want to be the salt of the earth?”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Ruth made a face into the phone. A lovely time! I carried you under my ribs for nine months, she thought. I fed you with my body. I'm God. The phrase that occurred to her was 'son of a bitch'. But then she would be the bitch.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Trap your tongue if it tattles out of turn.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“There's some sense in not going back. That way, you preserve it.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Ellen smiled and nodded. 'Just like their father.' She was proud of them; she watched until they were out of sight.

'Isn't it funny to watch children grow?'

Ellen said, 'It's a privilege.'

Ruth scrutinised this possibility. No, she thought, it's melancholy and strange. Children were so temporary.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Once you've left home, you've left,' said Frida. 'You go back with your head held high, or you don't go back.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Frida's concern now was her mother's house, which she referred to as 'the house she died in'.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

“Blue is the coolest colour,' said Frida. And blue, when Frida said it, was the coolest colour; it simply was.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest