1
What are we all chasing? Nella wonders. To live, of course. To be unbound from the invisible ropes that Johannes spoke of in his study. Or to be happy in them, at least.Jessie Burton
2
A piece of art only succeeds when it's creator...possesses the belief that brings it into beingJessie Burton
3
Like most artists, everything I produced was connected to who I was - and so I suffered according to how my work was received. The idea that anyone might be able to detach their personal value from their public output was revolutionary.Jessie Burton
4
I’m doing the absolute opposite of giving myself away. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be completely visible. If the painting sells, I’ll be in Paris, hanging on a wall. If anything, I’m being selfish. It’s perfect; all the freedom of creation, with none of the fuss.Jessie Burton
5
You are a stone, thrown upon a lake. But the ripples you create will never make you still.Jessie Burton
6
This city is like no other city in the world. It is brilliant but it is bloated, and I've never called it homeJessie Burton
7
The turnip cannot thrive in the tulips patch of soil.Jessie Burton
8
The rules of this house are written in water. I must either sink or swim.Jessie Burton
9
Because, Petronella - it's something in his soul. It's something in his soul and you can't get it out.Jessie Burton
10
All we can do if we're lucky is stich up the mistakes other people make.Jessie Burton
11
That may be. But to decide that I was never going to live as a proper woman was not your choice to make.' 'What do you mean a proper woman?' 'A proper woman marries - she has children -' 'Then what does that make me? Am I not a proper woman? Last time I looked I certainly was.Jessie Burton
12
Love your children, for they are the seeds that will make this city bloom.Jessie Burton
13
Words are water in this city. One drop of rumour could drown us.Jessie Burton
14
Take care, take care. This city thrives! It's money gives you wings to soar. But it is a yoke on your shoulders and you would do well to take note of the bruise around your neck.Jessie Burton
15
Believe it or don't believe it, Madame. But my feet are tired too. Bloody tired. Like a dead man's.Jessie Burton
16
We're nothing more than prisoners to your desire.Jessie Burton
17
The ink was secret nectar, for Marin isn't married.Jessie Burton
18
There are horizons through the brickwork, you wait and see.Jessie Burton
19
What was once, is no longer.Jessie Burton
20
The night darkens, the stars unfriendly, the cold a knife upon her neck - but Nella waits, until she can no longer difference between Johannes and the darkness that carries him away.Jessie Burton
21
Neighbours watching neighbours, twisting ropes to bind us all.Jessie Burton
22
From little seeds great flowers grow.Jessie Burton
23
I feel younger than eighteen but burdened as a eighty-year-old.Jessie Burton
24
I felt nothing change in the room, except the shock of my voice alone and the peculiar euphoria one feels in the wake of applause, feeling at once cheapened and triumphant.Jessie Burton
25
But words are water in Amsterdam, they flood your ears and set the rot, and the church's east corner is crowded.Jessie Burton
26
A Depressive?' 'Smiles in ballrooms, weeps in bedrooms. Ill in her head.' Olive tapped her temple. 'And here.' She touched her heart.Jessie Burton
27
When you have truly come to know a person, Nella -- when you see beneath the sweet gestures, the smiles -- when you see the rage and the pitiful fear which each of us hide -- then forgiveness is everything.Jessie Burton
28
Nothing here is more fabulous than the truthJessie Burton
29
Marin believes love is better in the chase than caught, ’ she says. He raises his eyebrows. ‘That does not surprise me. It is not better. But it is easier. One’s imagination is always more generous. And yet, the chase always tires you out in the end.Jessie Burton
30
In suffering we find our truest selves.Jessie Burton
31
A lifetime isn't enough to know how a person will behave.Jessie Burton
32
1887A lifetime isn't enough to know how a person will behave.Jessie Burton
33
Then where is home, Johannes?" He looks at the maps on his wall. "I don't know, " He says. "Where comfort is. And that is hard to find.Jessie Burton
34
She had never had a friend like this, in her private room, combing her hair, listening to her, talking about silly nonsense and the uselessness of one's parents; how the future was perfect, because they hadn't lived it yet.Jessie Burton
35
Growing older does not seem to make you more certain. It simply presents you with more reasons for doubt.Jessie Burton
36
Writing is a leap of faith. But how wonderful that the person you're putting faith in is yourself.Jessie Burton
37
Everything man sees he takes for a toy. 'Thus is he always, forever a boy.Jessie Burton