What do you think dignity's all about?' The directness of the inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. 'It's rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir,' I said. 'But I suspect it comes down to not removing one's clothing in public.
Kazuo Ishiguro
Related Squiffy, have you ever felt a sort of strange emptiness in the heart? A sort of aching void of the s... P.G. WODEHOUSE All right, my hope—but I am not saying the rest of it—I have something you need to feel.” SHERRY THOMAS candid , adj . "Most times, when I'm having sex, I'd rather be reading." DAVID LEVITHAN How can you protect yourself by carrying a sword if you don’t know how to use it?’ Not me, ... TERRY PRATCHETT Welcome, Prince,' said Aslan. 'Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?' C.S. LEWIS I should have known it was going to go downhill from there. “Now, I understand you’re looki... T.J. KLUNE Andrei, did you like the opera?" "Not particularly." "Andrei, do you see what you're missi... AYN RAND Wow,” said Adrian. He sat down on the bed and tested its bounciness, giving it a nod of approval. ... RICHELLE MEAD I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously.... LEWIS CARROLL So what else can I tell you?" I asked. "I mean, to get you to reveal Lily to me." She triangled... DAVID LEVITHAN When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose i... LEWIS CARROLL I can't let you take the risk. I love you too much." -Schuyler "Then you would rather see me bo... MELISSA DE LA CRUZ I want you to know, if you ever read this, there was a time when I would rather have had you by my s... MAGGIE NELSON Hess laughed. "You know, I thought you were a mousy little thing when I first saw you, Claire, but y... RACHEL CAINE There were still few rules at Down House, and Charles was not very good at enforcing the ones he and... DEBORAH HEILIGMAN And then I knew that despite all the pain and hard work all of us had gone through, despite the sadn... ERICA SEHYUN SONG Sophy looked at him. Under his amazed and horrified gaze, large tears slowly welled over her eyelids... GEORGETTE HEYER Daemon spoke in his language. The lyrical quality of his words made no sense to me. “Wh... JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT You know, I thought you were a mousy little thing when I first saw you, Claire, but you're not, are ... RACHEL CAINE Clay, did you ever love me?" I'm studying a billboard and say that I didn't hear what she said.... BRET EASTON ELLIS I didn't think about its being wrong to go in and try on the brooch; but I see now that ... L.M. MONTGOMERY And who talks of error now? I scarcely think the notion that flittered across my brain was an error.... CHARLOTTE BRONTë You think too much," Lucas said to me on the banks of the White River the next day. "I think to... JOHN COREY WHALEY Let me try once more," Milo said in an effort to explain. "In other words--" "You mean you have... NORTON JUSTER Deep down I think I may be just like everyone else. And do you know what, Harry?" "No sir." JOE R. LANSDALE Honestly," I said. What?" Come on. You have to admit it's sort of ridiculous." What i... SARAH DESSEN See . . . um . . . the thing is, I met with Lisa a few days ago. She wanted to apologize for . . . H... STJEPAN ŠEJIć Q: But what do you think that the Bible, itself, says? Don't you know how it was arrived at? A:... SCOPES TRIAL So what you're saying is you can't explain it." "I did explain it." "No, you used n... MAGGIE STIEFVATER Do you really think that Tutankhamen would have taken a chance on some pale girl with pretty eyes ha... LEAH ROOPER Well I'm not kissing the mundane," said Jace. "I'd rather stay down here and rot." "Forever?" s... CASSANDRA CLARE I talk of you: Why did you wish me milder? would you have me False to my nature? Rather sa... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Eventually I came across another passage. This is what it said: I am not commanding you, but I ... NICHOLAS SPARKS -If I somehow possessed a set of videotapes that contained all the most significant events of your c... MARTHA STOUT My dad said to me a few years ago: "There's no harm in thinking." We were talking about Crazy Uncle ... MARIAH FREDERICKS I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant ... JACK LONDON "I cannot bear it!" said the pewter soldier. "I have shed pewter tears! It is too melancholy! R... HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN Was it necessary to tell me that you wanted nothing in the world but me?' The corners of ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM This is your last chance to do the right thing.' 'Do you want to attack first, or will I?' DEREK LANDY A Man Said to the Universe A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” STEPHEN CRANE "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. "It means just what I choose it t... LEWIS CARROLL When, some months later, Zoltan emailed me about his decision to run for president, I immediately ca... MARK O'CONNELL What about you?" he asked, his words not much more than a mumble. "Regrets?" "Many," Skud... DEREK LANDY How did you keep this by you?" Grey demanded abruptly. "You were searched to the skin when you were ... DIANA GABALDON I am Shiloh, whose box you stole. Your godmother's sickness lies in your own keeping, you can heal h... A.E. COPPARD ...Recognising, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe--" "Indeed, sir! May ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE So what can I do now?" she spoke up a minute later. "Nothing," I said. "Just think about what c... HARUKI MURAKAMI You're an interesting person, Jack." Sullivan said. "I wish I could figure out what you were thingin... JOHN SCALZI Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave? Come and visit your good friend Sweeney. You... STEPHEN SONDHEIM Ex ‘Fleet man?” “He was a full Commander, last I heard, sir.” “Interesting.” F... CHRISTINA ENGELA i DO NOT WHY BUT i KEEP THINKING OF YOU, WHAT DID YOU EVER DO TO ME? I have tried na nika... HANIMOZ OBEY After a while the Senior Wrangler said, "Do you know, I read the other day that every atom in your b... TERRY PRATCHETT Like a prisoner who dreams that he is free, starts to suspect that it is merely a dream, and wa... RENé DESCARTES Do you remember me telling you we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?" "Yes," said Harry ... J.K. ROWLING What has started you on this?" I asked. "We were talking about the holidays." "Lo... CYNTHIA LAWRENCE Are you sure that’s a real spell?’ said the girl. ‘Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve t... J.K. ROWLING You say I am repeating Something I have said before. I shall say it again. Shall I say it... T.S. ELIOT Oh." He sat in confused silence for a few seconds. "Can I ask you a very serious question?" "I ... KATIE ALENDER You should read something else." Why would he have done that to him?" I don't know," she s... NICHOLAS SPARKS And I start to say, no. Start to ask him to please just take it off and put it away. Start... ALYSON NOEL You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously. "I'm afraid not," I said. "... RICK RIORDAN I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but I was fine. N... RICK RIORDAN Why did you wish me milder? would you have me False to my nature? Rather say I play The ma... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to... SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE To play one of the main characters in it, it's not like the kind of thing you don't do. Oh, I'd rath... BILLY BOYD Well, I’m not kissing the mundane," said Jace. "I’d rather stay down here and rot." "Foreve... CASSANDRA CLARE The girl in the tight black dress was passing by us now, eyeing Wes and walking entirely too slowly.... SARAH DESSEN So say I’m your mom.' 'What?' I said. 'I’m your mom,' he repeated. 'Now tell me you wa... SARAH DESSEN Would you like me to grovel with gratitude for bringing me here, High Lord?" "Ah. The Sur... SARAH J. MAAS People are not an interruption of our business. People are our business. A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. It is hard to look up to a leader who keeps his ear to the ground. The most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed. The more intelligent a man is, the more originality he discovers in men. Ordinary people see no diff... The intelligence is proved not by ease of learning, but by understanding what we learn. Communication is something so simple and difficult that we can never put it in simple words. Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads Let love through good deeds show. How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it. In everyone's heart stirs a great homesickness. That is the supreme value of history. The study of it is the best guarantee against repeating it. Our wisdom comes usually from our experience, and our experience comes largely from our experience. One thing about the school of experience is that it will repeat the lesson if you flunk the first ti... To reprove small faults within due vehemence, is as absurd as if a man should take a great hammer to... Faith is like electricity. You can't see it, but you can see the light. Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of... Some families can trace their ancestors back three hundred years, but can't tell you where their chi... A recent survey was said to prove that the people we Americans most admire are our politicians and d... If a man defrauds you one time, he is a rascal; if he does it twice, you are a fool. Flattery looks like friendship, just like a wolf looks like a dog. Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Courage is always greatest when blended with meekness; intellectual ability is most admired when it ... Freedom also includes the right to mismanage your own affairs. Let your friends be the friends of your deliberate choice. The man who has strong opinions and always says what he thinks is courageous - and friendless. Friendship is love with understanding. So few people think. When we find one who really does, we call him a genius Your life can't go according to plan if you have no plan. Practicing the Golden Rule is not a sacrifice; it is an investment. Conversation is an exercise of the mind; gossip is merely an exercise of the tongue. An expert gossiper knows how much to leave out of a conversation
More Kazuo Ishiguro
There's something very misleading about the literary culture that looks at writers in their 30s ... KAZUO ISHIGURO When you become a parent, or a teacher, you turn into a manager of this whole system. You become the... KAZUO ISHIGURO It is sometimes said that butlers only truly exist in England. Other countries, whatever title is ac... KAZUO ISHIGURO It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see th... KAZUO ISHIGURO Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that.... KAZUO ISHIGURO Sometimes I get so immersed in my own company, if I unexpectedly run into someone I know, it's a bit... KAZUO ISHIGURO Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Bec... KAZUO ISHIGURO There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one. KAZUO ISHIGURO She always wanted to believe in things. KAZUO ISHIGURO I do not think I responded immediately, for it took me a moment or two to fully digest these words o... KAZUO ISHIGURO Many of our deepest motives come, not from an adult logic of how things work in the world, but out o... KAZUO ISHIGURO We all live inside bodies that will deteriorate. But when you look at human beings, they're capa... KAZUO ISHIGURO There are things I am more interested in than the clone thing. How are they trying to find their pla... KAZUO ISHIGURO What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save... KAZUO ISHIGURO The world is crawling with authors touring now. They're like performance artists. KAZUO ISHIGURO I wouldn't want to try to adapt something of my own. It would be like going back to school and d... KAZUO ISHIGURO We always like to keep our children in a kind of bubble and censor the bad news about the world. We ... KAZUO ISHIGURO This is the big question that we all have about our children: How much, how soon, do we tell our chi... KAZUO ISHIGURO Everything might scatter. You might be right. I suppose it's something we can't easily get away from... KAZUO ISHIGURO I half closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childho... KAZUO ISHIGURO I had been plunged into a different world. I found myself spending half my time answering weird ques... KAZUO ISHIGURO I'm wondering if without our memories, there's nothing for it but for our love to fade and die. KAZUO ISHIGURO It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with... KAZUO ISHIGURO You say you’re sure ? Sure that you’re in love? How can you know it? You think love is so ... KAZUO ISHIGURO I want my words to survive translation. I know when I write a book now I will have to go and spend t... KAZUO ISHIGURO As I say, I have never in all these years thought of the matter in quite this way; but then it is pe... KAZUO ISHIGURO I do feel part of that generation of people who were rather idealistic in the '70s and became di... KAZUO ISHIGURO I've always had a great fondness for English detective fiction such as Agatha Christie and Dorot... KAZUO ISHIGURO I couldn't speak Japanese very well, passport regulations were changing, I felt British, and my ... KAZUO ISHIGURO Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memo... KAZUO ISHIGURO I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because i... KAZUO ISHIGURO Our family arrived in England in 1960. At that time I thought the war was ancient history. But if I ... KAZUO ISHIGURO I like the fact that by mimicking the way memory works, a writer can actually write in a fluid way -... KAZUO ISHIGURO When you're lucky enough to have a good film made of your novel - and 'Never Let Me Go' ... KAZUO ISHIGURO I'm not at all interested in the brave who fight against the odds and win. I am interested in th... KAZUO ISHIGURO Even though I spent the first five years of my life in Nagasaki, going to Japan can be really diffic... KAZUO ISHIGURO I was a little concerned that a lot of people thought I wrote Merchant Ivory movies. I also thought ... KAZUO ISHIGURO I loved cowboy films and TV series, and I learned bits of English from them. My favorite was 'La... KAZUO ISHIGURO People were incredibly kind to our family and went out of their way to help. KAZUO ISHIGURO There's a practical problem about time and energy, and a more subtle problem of what it does to a wr... KAZUO ISHIGURO It is a protected world. To some extent at least you have to shield children from what you know and ... KAZUO ISHIGURO Until then, I was knocking on doors. Afterward, my wife and I started to get a different kind of din... KAZUO ISHIGURO I went through my purple-prose phase in my songwriting... I was really writing between the lines. An... KAZUO ISHIGURO I went many years without even associating Nagasaki with the atomic bomb. Then in the 1980s, when th... KAZUO ISHIGURO I think the judging process is full of integrity, compared to some other prizes around the world. Th... KAZUO ISHIGURO I used to think when I was in my teens I was very different from my father, but now I see that what ... KAZUO ISHIGURO The book was at a reasonably high position on the New York Times... before I was in the country. I t... KAZUO ISHIGURO I work very regular hours, roughly 9 to 5:30. I think I have it much easier than a lot of parents. I... KAZUO ISHIGURO When I got to 40 or so... I had the sense when I looked back over my life I would actually see a mes... KAZUO ISHIGURO I couldn't speak Japanese very well, passport regulations were changing, I felt British, and my futu... KAZUO ISHIGURO As a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually h... KAZUO ISHIGURO When you are young, things like your moral stance and your political position seem very important. I... KAZUO ISHIGURO What is pertinent is the calmness of that beauty, its sense of restraint. KAZUO ISHIGURO My friends and I took songwriting very, very seriously. My hero was and still is Bob Dylan, but also... KAZUO ISHIGURO What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows ... KAZUO ISHIGURO Perhaps there are those who are able to go about their lives unfettered by such concerns. But for th... KAZUO ISHIGURO Its was one of those events which at a crucial stage in one's development arrive to challenge and st... KAZUO ISHIGURO There's something peculiar about writing fiction. It requires an interesting balance between see... KAZUO ISHIGURO Perhaps it is indeed time I began to look at this whole matter of bantering more enthusiastically. A... KAZUO ISHIGURO After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not... KAZUO ISHIGURO Indeed — why should I not admit it? — in that moment, my heart was breaking. KAZUO ISHIGURO The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up an... KAZUO ISHIGURO All I know is that I've wasted all these years looking for something, a sort of trophy I'd get only ... KAZUO ISHIGURO And so we stood together like that, at the top of that field for what seemed like ages, not saying a... KAZUO ISHIGURO A few minutes later, he said suddenly: 'Kath, can we stop? I'm sorry, I need to get out a minute.' KAZUO ISHIGURO A part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and-no matter how much we despised ou... KAZUO ISHIGURO Your life must now run the course that's been set for it. KAZUO ISHIGURO We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enou... KAZUO ISHIGURO Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memo... KAZUO ISHIGURO That's most interesting. But I was no more a mind-reader then than today. I was weeping for an ... KAZUO ISHIGURO When we lost something precious, and we'd looked and looked and still couldn't find it, then we didn... KAZUO ISHIGURO You're always in a rush, or else you're too exhausted to have a proper conversation. Soon enough, th... KAZUO ISHIGURO Poor creatures. What did we do to you? With all our schemes and plans? KAZUO ISHIGURO I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses... KAZUO ISHIGURO Maybe from as early as when you're five or six, there's been a whisper going at the back of your hea... KAZUO ISHIGURO I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people ... KAZUO ISHIGURO The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you r... KAZUO ISHIGURO That was the only time, as I stood there, looking at that strange rubbish, feeling the wind coming a... KAZUO ISHIGURO All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma. KAZUO ISHIGURO You have to accept that sometimes that's how things happen in this world. People's opinions, their f... KAZUO ISHIGURO We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we di... KAZUO ISHIGURO I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people ... KAZUO ISHIGURO Now when I look back to the Guildford of that time, it seems far more exotic to me than Nagasaki. KAZUO ISHIGURO I don't have a deep link with England like, say, Jonathan Coe or Hanif Kureishi might demonstrat... KAZUO ISHIGURO What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to contro... KAZUO ISHIGURO In any case, while it is all very well to talk of 'turning points', one can surely only recognise su... KAZUO ISHIGURO It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with... KAZUO ISHIGURO Some of you will have fine monuments by which the living may remember the evil done to you. Some of ... KAZUO ISHIGURO Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memo... KAZUO ISHIGURO Nagasaki is not just a few hazy images. I remember it as a real chunk of my life. KAZUO ISHIGURO People aren't quite sure what it means when a book is a Booker Prize winner. They're not quite sure ... KAZUO ISHIGURO It was like there was some parallel universe we all vanished off to where we had all this sex. KAZUO ISHIGURO What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been ... KAZUO ISHIGURO But what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened had such and such a moment tur... KAZUO ISHIGURO If you are under the impression you have already perfected yourself, you will never rise to the heig... KAZUO ISHIGURO People aren't quite sure what it means when a book is a Booker Prize winner. They're not qui... KAZUO ISHIGURO The truth is, Japan is headed for crisis. We are in the hands of greedy businessmen and weak politic... KAZUO ISHIGURO Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to w... KAZUO ISHIGURO I had the sense when I looked back over my life I would actually see a mess of decisions, a few of w... KAZUO ISHIGURO I work very regular hours, roughly 9 to 5:30. I think I have it much easier than a lot of parents. I... KAZUO ISHIGURO It is essential, then, to keep one's attention focused on the present; to guard against any complace... KAZUO ISHIGURO Naturally—and why should I not admit this—I have occasionally wondered to myself how things migh... KAZUO ISHIGURO It is all very well, in these changing times, to adapt one's work to take in duties not traditionall... KAZUO ISHIGURO What is more, sir," his lordship went on, "I believe I have a good idea of what you mean by 'profess... KAZUO ISHIGURO The rest of my life stretches out as an emptiness before me. KAZUO ISHIGURO But this small episode is as good an illustration as any of the hazards of uttering witticisms. By t... KAZUO ISHIGURO But that doesn't mean to say, of course, there aren't occasions now and then - extremely desolate oc... KAZUO ISHIGURO Why, Mr Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend? KAZUO ISHIGURO For a great many people, the evening is the most enjoyable part of the day. Perhaps, then, there is ... KAZUO ISHIGURO One is not struck by the truth until prompted quite accidentally by some external event. KAZUO ISHIGURO He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say... KAZUO ISHIGURO But then, I suppose, when with the benefit of hindsight one begins to search one's past for such 'tu... KAZUO ISHIGURO I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in ... KAZUO ISHIGURO What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out... KAZUO ISHIGURO You see, we were able to give you something, something which even now no one will ever take from you... KAZUO ISHIGURO You will agree that such is often the way with matters one has given abiding thought to over a perio... KAZUO ISHIGURO What I mean is, right from that first time, there was something in Tommy's manner that was ting... KAZUO ISHIGURO Too many people think only of their own profit. But business opportunity seldom knocks on the door o... KAZUO INAMORI In Japan there is a saying that . . . just seeing and hearing the form, the manners and the words ... KAZUO INAMORI Our goal is to reduce the costs of gasoline-hybrids, get a lot of people driving them, and then thin... KAZUO OKAMOTO I can't say when cars might run on lithium-ion batteries, but there's a very good chance they will b... KAZUO OKAMOTO In the future, the cars you see from Toyota will be 100 percent hybrid. KAZUO OKAMOTO We believe in 10 years' time the world will be filled with hybrid cars. KAZUO OKAMOTO Despite ballooning JGB issuance, Japanese financial institutions have ample appetite for JGB investm... KAZUO MIZUNO Further reforms mean tough political moves. But with a mandate like this, Koizumi has no excuse not ... KAZUO MIZUNO Projections for the next two months are good, and if things go as forecast, we'll be able to confirm... KAZUO MIZUNO I'm having difficulty trying to get a grasp of it. Today was an inside-the-parker. I can't believe i... KAZUO MATSUI Right now, I feel ready to go. KAZUO MATSUI I judged the ball too early because of the speed of the runner, ... I probably took my eye off the b... KAZUO MATSUI I always want to be prepared for the opportunity that is given to me. KAZUO MATSUI I can't really say if I can get it back, ... I just want to utilize the opportunities given to me. I... KAZUO MATSUI I'm hoping for its strong performance as the country's No. 1 player in charge of our air traffic. KAZUO KITAGAWA This is extremely regrettable and something that must never happen. KAZUO KITAGAWA There are numerous reasons why people have not moved out, but municipalities are working hard to vis... KAZUO KITAGAWA We hope to reach agreements on the direction of future policies and issue a message demonstrating ou... KAZUO KITAGAWA We want police to clarify the facts behind the scandal so it will not happen again. KAZUO KITAGAWA I wonder if we should be leaving driver qualification to train operators, KAZUO KITAGAWA It's tragic, ... We have to investigate why this horrible accident happened. KAZUO KITAGAWA We want to complete the greater Tokyo area's aviation setup. This will help us move toward that goal... KAZUO KITAGAWA Personally, I regret the visit. Aside from constitutional points, I am afraid that the visit might c... KAZUO KITAGAWA Perhaps the government needs to be more actively involved in driver qualification and training. KAZUO KITAGAWA The advancement of science and technology alone cannot make humanity happy. KAZUO INAMORI I think that is the opportunity that is given by this event. KAZUO INAMORI In Japan there is a saying that . . . just seeing and hearing the form, the manners and the words ... KAZUO INAMORI It comes from experience. The body knows how to learn. KAZUO HYODO It comes from experience. The body knows how to learn. Hear that? That sounds metallic, and you're s... KAZUO HYODO