Desperation Quotes - Page 14

• Every novel is like this, desperation, a frustrated attempt to save something of the past. Except that it still has not been established whether it is the novel that prevents man from forgetting himself or the impossibility of forgetfulness that makes him write novels.

  Jose Saramago

  Writing, Past, Men

  "The History of the Siege of Lisbon" by Jose Saramago, (p. 47), 1989.

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• Sophia and Grandmother sat down by the shore to discuss the matter further. It was a pretty day, and the sea was running a long, windless swell. It was on days just like this--dog days--that boats went sailing off all by themselves. Large, alien objects made their way in from sea, certain things sank and others rose, milk soured, and dragonflies danced in desperation. Lizards were not afraid. When the moon came up, red spiders mated on uninhabited skerries, where the rock became an unbroken carpet of tiny, ecstatic spiders.

  Tove Jansson

  Running, Dog, Grandmother

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• Civilizations grow by agreements and accomodations and accretions, not by repudiations. The rebels and the revolutionaries are only eddies, they keep the stream from getting stagnant but they get swept down and absorbed, they're a side issue. Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition. If revolutionaries would learn that they can't remodel society by day after tomorrow -- haven't the wisdom to and shouldn't be permitted to -- I'd have more respect for them ... Civilizations grow and change and decline -- they aren't remade.

  Wallace Stegner

  Agreement, Civilization, Names

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• Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that people do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined, I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me. But if I saw her, I wouldn't recognize her.

  Veronica Roth

  Girl, Hurt, Boys

  "Divergent". Book by Veronica Roth, April 25, 2011.

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• The desperation was coming off you in waves. You were all but begging to dance with me. I am doing you a favor.

  Amanda Hocking

  Doing You, Favors, Wave

  Amanda Hocking (2014). “Trylle: The Complete Trilogy”, p.23, Pan Macmillan

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• Soul. The word rebounded to me, and I wondered, as I often had, what it was exactly. People talked about it all the time, but did anybody actually know? Sometimes I'd pictured it like a pilot light burning inside a person--a drop of fire from the invisible inferno people called God. Or a squashy substance, like a piece of clay or dental mold, which collected the sum of a person's experiences--a million indentations of happiness, desperation, fear, all the small piercings of beauty we've ever known.

  Sue Monk Kidd

  Fire, Light, People

  Sue Monk Kidd (2006). “The Mermaid Chair”, p.132, Penguin

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• All of us, poor & rich alike, have been conditioned by our upbringings. Impoverished men & women may become lulled into a state of "learned helplessness" without hope to change their lives. Likewise, the wealthy can walk in a state of "learned blindness" ignoring the desperation of the local & global poor.

  John Green

  Men, May, Rich

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• aloof, adj. It has always been my habit, ever since junior high school, to ask that question: “What are you thinking?” It is always an act of desperation, and I keep on asking, even though I know it will never work the way I want it to.

  David Levithan

  School, Thinking, Asking

  David Levithan (2011). “The Lover's Dictionary: A Novel”, p.13, Macmillan

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• I should have known you'd side with them. It's some sort of of male bonding thing to think women aren't capable of running their own lives." He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "It's ego and sheer desperation. We have to keep you thinking we're the superior species." "News flash, Jack - no women on the face of earth believes that anymore." He trailed kisses down her cheek. "But men don't know women know that. We still live in our fantasy world, so don't muck it up for us.

  Christine Feehan

  Running, Believe, Kissing

  Christine Feehan (2006). “Conspiracy Game”, p.96, Penguin

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• I felt a constant, low-flying desperation, the kind you feel when you are trying, trying, trying to get something you will never, ever get.

  Deb Caletti

  Flying, Trying, Kind

  Deb Caletti (2010). “The Secret Life of Prince Charming”, p.319, Simon and Schuster

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• It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh, thrice guilty is he who. . .drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime.

  Susan B. Anthony

  Abortion, Pro Life, Soul

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