South of Darkness Quotes

“Still without looking at me, Silas responded to my question. ‘He fell in love with Madame Geneva. That were the real story of his downfall, though his mother won’t have it at any price.’ I knew well who, or rather what, Madame Geneva was. It was one of the names people in Hell, and no doubt various other places, used for gin. Along with Hell water, strip-me-naked, bunter’s tea, blue ruin and meat-drink-washing-and-lodging. And a dozen others. I had seen many men and women in love with Madame Geneva, whatever alias she went under, and she did not serve them well.”
― John Marsden, South of Darkness

“some men run out of stories, of conversation, in no time at all. Either so little has happened to them or, more likely, they are incapable of understanding or retaining what has happened to them, and so they soon find themselves with nothing to say. Such a man makes a terrible companion.”
― John Marsden, South of Darkness