Restless Quotes

“Maybe we should go by tube', he said.

A taxi'll come', she said. 'I'm in no hurry'.

She remembered something a woman in Paris had told her once. A woman in her forties, much married, elegant, a little world-weary. There is nothing easier in this world, this woman had claimed, than getting a man to kiss you. Oh really? Eva had said, so how do you do that? Just stand close to a man, the woman has said, very close, as close as you can without touching - he will kiss you in one minute or two. It's inevitable. For them it's like an instinct - they can't resist. Infaillible.

So Eva stood close to Romer in the doorway of the shop on Frith Street as he shooted and waved at the passing cars moving down the dark street, hoping one of them might be a taxi.

We're out of luck', he said, turning, to find Eva standing very close to him, her face lifted.

I'm in no hurry', she said.

He reached for her and kissed her.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“I stood there in the kitchen, watching her staring across the meadow still searching for her nemesis and I thought, suddenly, that this is all our lives - this is the one fact that applies to us all, that makes us what we are, our common mortality, our common humanity. One day someone is going to come and take us away: you don't need to have been a spy, I thought, to feel like this.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“people lead their real, most interesting lives under cover of secrecy”
― William Boyd, Restless

“She bought a pint of whiskey and woke to discover that she had managed to construct a presentable hangover for herself on the morning of 1 January.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“I was at that level of inebriation - that hinge, that crux, that ridge - where you can decide to proceed or step back. Red warning lights were flashing on the control panel but the aeroplane was not yet in a screaming death-dive.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“young”
― William Boyd, Restless

“Then she changed the subject and asked about Jochen and how his day had been and had he said anything amusing, so I told her, all the while sensing a kind of weakening in my bowels - as if I needed to shit - provoked by a sudden and growing worry about what was lying up ahead for me and a small nagging fear that I wouldn't be able to cope”
― William Boyd, Restless

“Happenstance intersecting with received wisdom produces something entirely new and significant.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“country:”
― William Boyd, Restless

“I wouldn’t go as far as that,’ he said, ‘but we managed to get an America First meeting closed in Philadelphia. Two thousand photographs of Herr Hitler found in the organisers’ office.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“he replied with unusual meekness – it just seems a terrible waste, Ruth, an awful waste of precious electricity. I now think he knew that he was soon going to die”
― William Boyd, Restless

“She found a mossy hollow between the roots of a tree and, putting on her mackintosh, huddled down in her makeshift bed. She ate one sandwich and saved the others for the night, thinking that she was rather enjoying the progress of this adventure, thus far, and almost looking forward to her night in the open air. The hurry of the fast water rushing over the round pebbly rocks of the river bed was soothing: it made her feel less alone and she felt she had no need for her candle to keep the gathering darkness at bay - in fact she was rather relieved to be away from her colleagues and the instructors at Lyne Manor.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“wheelchair.”
― William Boyd, Restless

“Monsieur”
― William Boyd, Restless