Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Bernard MacLaverty
70 quotes
“I always say that a man with one language is like a man with one eye.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They are angry men with vision, Brother, and by God their anger is justified. Ireland has not much longer to suffer. Her misery will soon be over and we'll be a united country again." "Yes," said Brother Sebastian, "but I don't like their methods." "Nor do I, Brother. Nor do I. But do you like the methods of the British Government any better?”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's not much money - if that's what you mean." "Approximately." "Once all the debts are paid there will be very little." "Nevertheless. Every little helps. The Brothers are sorely in need of it this weather.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What we run here, Brother, is a finishing school for the sons of the Idle Poor." "It finishes them all right.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bitter?" said the barmaid and he nodded. What a strange thing to call a drink. Bitter. Aloes. Sorrow. For something that was supposed to make you feel happy.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a bad day when the biggest thing you catch is a seagull.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Michael wondered why it was the tragic things that remained with him most vividly.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When they had come recruiting to his school - 'for fishers of men' - all those years ago and had offered the glittering lures of sanctity and safety, Michael had jumped selflessly. It was a long time before the line pulled taut and he felt the pain of the hooks within him and the irony of the fisherman caught.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A bird's-eye view does not see the truth.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you have a war on your hands you send for the Mr Crillys of this world. The hard men and the bandits are the real revolutionaries, if you see what I mean. They get things done, they punch the hole for us to get through later.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch.2 - p.40 [Page numbers per the 1998 Vintage paperback.]
“Suddenly a police Land Rover with its hee-haw siren blaring swung into the main road behind them with a squeal of tyres. It roared along and overtook them so fast its body tilted at an angle to the chassis. Someone said, "Jesus, they'll sell no ice cream going at that speed.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you still want to - refuse to help?" "I'm afraid so." "Not to act - you know - is to act. By not doing anything you are helping to keep the Brits here.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once you've been through a tragedy you're scared of it ever after," Mrs Morton said.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We went on a school trip down the Rhine one summer and I saw a crucifixion that made all others pale for me. It was a painting. And it was the first thing like that which had any effect on me. I stood and stared at it for so long the teachers lost me and had to come back for me.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What about you?" "I would like to see a united Ireland, but I haven't decided the best way to go about it yet." "I feel sorry for it." "What?" "Ireland. It's like a child. It's only concerned with the past and the present. The future has ceased to exist for it.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Violence is a bit like antibodies. Small doses build up until you can reject and be immune to the most horrific events.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is a very strange idea. I never know what it is. When you were young it seemed to be all intensity and no opportunity. Later when you did get the opportunity the fire had gone out of it.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cal, the world is full of gulpins who don't care who they hurt.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was a way of not thinking - to concentrate on her surroundings. If she stared at things, then it helped block out stuff.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Purring was the funniest thing, like a motorbike in the distance.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The individual matters," said Mrs Gallagher.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are you a conduit for the music?”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On a slippery slope the only way was down.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An earthquake in one department created tidal waves in others.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Steady as a three-legged stool.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes I have difficulty with the avant-garde. There's a gallery in London I've been to and it's difficult to tell what's going on. A bag of nails, a ladder, a hammer - a crisp bag in the corner. Is it an exhibition or are they preparing an exhibition? Is the artist asking me to pay attention to something trivial or important?”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She smiled to prove everything was all right. It was an odd device, this rearrangement of muscles of the face which said everything is all right. No need to enquire within. It could be used as a barrier to fend off emotional intruders.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a Portstewart guest house her father liked to play tricks when he had eaten his egg. He would put the shell upside down in someone else's eggcup. The McKennas would sit and watch the next person lift a spoon and cave in the top of the hollow egg.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When she met men the first things she took account of were the negative things. Wimpishness, a bully, shiftiness, recklessness, elaborate facial hair.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The island kids had TV, radio. Their remote surroundings were seen as a deprivation, not something to be enjoyed. They felt cut off from the mainstream. To be on an island was a source of discontent, not as good as the mainland.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wish I was artistic," said Liz, "then I could be temperamental.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How can something be utterly simple and amazingly complex at the same time? Things are simple or complex according to how much attention is paid to them.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's all going far too well," said Gerry. "A bad omen.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch 1 - p.20 [Page numbers per the Penguin Random House UK 2017 paperback.]
“Alcohol is the rubber tyres between me and the pier." He held up his glass to her. They chinked.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She found a large and classy department store. Like any other city, Amsterdam was full of shops which sold things that nobody wanted. Or the kind of things some people wanted but nobody needed.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since Belfast, he always sat in a chair facing the door.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now that they had mobile phones, theoretically it should have been easier to keep tabs on one another. But practically it had not helped. In the first instance you had to remember to bring the bloody thing with you. If you had it with you, invariably one or other of the mobiles was switched off or needed charging. And then, even if you did get through, Stella's phone had some mysterious setting which diverted incoming calls straight to 'Leave a message'. And her phone did not ring. And she did not answer it.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look, see, behold. Above all, listen.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She rummaged in her bag and produced a postcard she'd bought in the museum shop. Old Woman Reading. It was not the painting she had seen but a different one. When she'd asked for the postcard the assistant had shrugged and said they were out of it. There are many old women reading, she said. The assistant had offered her another, even better, card. An old woman, cowled in some dark material, looking down at a book. It was so lovely - the concentration in the eyes, the luminescence of the ancient face reflected from the page, the interior light from reading whatever was printed there.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When they finally got into the foyer there were some enlarged black and white photographs. Anne in her school playground before the war. Anne in the street with friends. Anne at a desk, writing.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They crossed a metal suspension bridge over a canal. Both sides of the structure bristled with padlocks. Some of the brass locks had felt-tipped names written on them. 'Don + Gwen', 'Micky & Minnie', 'Leo n Leonora'. One had a message written on it. 'Graham and Vickey. I love you more than Coco Pops.' "It must be some kind of love fest," Gerry said. "Clamped for ever." "Have you seen this kinda thing before?" "I've heard of it." "It'll be the young ones." "Trendy ones.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A thing that really took his breath away was Norman Foster's roof over the Great Court at the British Museum - the audacity and brilliance of it. The approach inside the building from a periphery of darkness into the thrilling light at its centre - the largest covered square in Europe - was utterly wonderful.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stella was telling the clerk that there was a Catholic church in the heart of the red-light district called 'Our Dear Lord in the Attic'. "Would there be Mass there?" "No, I do not think so." The clerk shook his head. "It is now a museum." "All religion should be in museums," Gerry said.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The coffee was good and the first sip made him want a cigarette. His hand went to his pocket before he realised it was decades since he'd had a smoke. The desire came out of nowhere. He thought how foolish, how stuck in routine the body becomes. Would the same thing happen if he tried to give up drinking?”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the wall above the sink was a board, with tools clipped to it. A hammer, screwdrivers - a pair of pliers, a hacksaw. And other stuff. Each item was outlined carefully in red paint. "I like your board arrangement," said Stella. "It's to remind me to put things back. If I don't, the empty ghost yells at me. So I put things back.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know how vivid things are in extremis. There's something going on in the brain. Chemicals. They make the moment indelible.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stella found herself isolating one particular snowflake - a small one - and watching its progress. Lifting, floating, eddying upwards, sinking among the others. Dithering. Then when it went off her radar she would choose another and watch it and will it to survive for as long as possible.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What happened to you? You're nothing but appetite.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He wanted to pray but couldn't because he no longer believed. Prayer was just an intense wishing.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Believers. I mean, where have they all gone?”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source