The Gate of Angels Quotes

“To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is – in other words, not a thing, but a think.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“More than that, I believe that the grass is green because green is restful to the human eye, that the sky is blue to give us an idea of the infinite. And that blood is red so that murder will be more easily detected and criminals will be brought to justice. Yes, and I believe that I shall live forever, but I shall live without reason.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“Would you consider what I call the “inner eye” which opens for some of us, though not always when we want it or expect it – would you consider the inner eye as one of the sensory nerves?”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“The body, then, has a mind of its own. It must follow, then, that the Mind has a body of its own, even if it’s like nothing that we can see around us, or have ever seen.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“How could the wind be so strong, so far inland, that cyclists
coming into the town in the late afternoon looked more like
sailors in peril? This was on the way into Cambridge, up Mill
Road past the cemetery and the workhouse. On the open
ground to the left the willow-trees had been blown, driven
and cracked until their branches gave way and lay about the
drenched grass, jerking convulsively and trailing cataracts of
twigs. The cows had gone mad, tossing up the silvery weeping
leaves which were suddenly, quite contrary to all their exper-
ience, everywhere within reach. Their horns were festooned
with willow boughs. Not being able to see properly, they
tripped and fell. Two or three of them were wallowing on
their backs, idiotically, exhibiting vast pale bellies intended by
nature to be always hidden. They were still munching. A scene
of disorder, tree-tops on the earth, legs in the air, in a university
city devoted to logic and reason.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“He ordered a cup of tea and two biscuits for five pence and thought of nothing.—Oh, but that’s impossible.—It’s not possible to think of nothing. Certainly it was unprofessional of Fred, who was paid by the university to use his mind, and unwise of him as a lover, but there it was, he was occupied with bitter sensations, giving way to stupefaction, then to emptiness.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“Whatever you do, gentlemen, don’t, as scientists, believe you are anything extraordinary. Don’t allow yourself for a moment to feel anything like contempt for those whose minds work differently from your own. Their minds in fact don’t work differently from your own. Don’t tell yourself that their ideas are commonplace. It’s very good for an idea to be commonplace. The important thing is that a new idea should develop out of what is already there so that it soon becomes an old acquaintance. Old acquaintances aren’t by any means always welcome, but at least one can’t be mistaken as to who or what they are.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“We were delighted to have a chance of meeting you, Miss Saunders,’ said Mrs Fairly, as they sat down. ‘We have heard so very little about you.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“When they married he wouldn’t be able to go on where he was. On the other hand, if she wouldn’t have him, he didn’t see that he would be able to go on at all.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“Surely if one doesn’t find sex tiresome in life, it won’t be tiresome in fiction,’ said the Junior Dean. ‘I do find it tiresome in life,’ Dr Matthews replied. ‘Or rather, I find other people’s concern with it tiresome. One is told about it and told and told!”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“..."Above all, though, we don't want a weakly habit of constant complaint. As a rough guide, remember that while the average man is ill for four days a year, a grown woman must expect to spend one fourth of her life in actual pain."

Daisy felt a rush of admiration. So far she herself had done nothing like her fair share.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“The professor urged upon Fred that to base one's calculations on unobservables - such as God, such as the soul, such as the atom, such as the elementary particle - was nothing more than a comforting weakness. 'I don't deny that all human beings need comfort. But scientists should not indulge themselves on quite this scale.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels

“You have come to Cambridge to study the interdependence of matter and energy. Please remember that energy and matter are in no way something distinct from yourselves. Remember, too, that scientists are not dispassionate. Your judgement and your ability to do good work will be in part dependent on your digestion, your prejudices and above all, your emotional life. You must face the fact that if another human being, whose welfare means considerably more to you than your own, behaves in a very different way from anything you had expected, then your efficiency may be impaired. When the heart is breaking, it is nothing but an absurd illusion to think you can taste the blood. Still I repeat, your efficiency may be impaired.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels