She got up and he saw the skin of her thigh for a moment above the artificial silk, and a prick of sexual desire disturbed him like a sickness. That was what happened to a man in the end: the stuffy room, the wakeful children, the Saturday night movements from the other bed. Was there no escape——anywhere——for anyone? It was worth murdering a world.Graham Greene
About This Quote
The novel "The Thin Man" by Dashiell Hammett is an early example of pulp fiction, or crime novels that are low-brow in subject matter and style. The story is told through the point of view of Nick Charles, the husband of Nora Charles, the main character in the book. Nick has spent most of his life with Nora, so when they decide to spend their last night together in Las Vegas, they celebrate in style. They begin by drinking martinis and gambling at a casino in Las Vegas. Shortly after they finish their night out they return to their luxurious suite, only to find that their maid has wrecked it.
They decide to call room service for some food for dinner, but instead of coming with the food, the maid brings with her two attractive young men that she claims are her husband's long lost brothers. Each man has brought his own bottle of liquor, and after some small talk they open up and start drinking together. When the men begin to get drunker they start getting frisky with each other... After about an hour of this prelude Nick realizes that he is getting aroused...
But he doesn't want to have sex with these strangers. He decides that he wants out of this situation as soon as possible. As he is leaving he stops by the bathroom to freshen up, but when he goes inside one of the men knocks him unconscious with a blow to the head.
When Nick wakes up he finds himself tied up on a bed with one man on top making love to him while the other one watches... When Nora discovers Nick tied up on a bed she figures out what happened immediately... But instead of being hurt or upset by what her husband had done she is happy... She figures that this was less dangerous than being alone in Las Vegas without him by her side, so she is happy that he escaped this fate instead! The message here is that you can't always escape danger no matter how hard you try!
Source: Brighton Rock
Some Similar Quotes
- The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't...
- I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.
- I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.
- The problem, of course, was that [he] saw the world in black and white. And he got to decide what was black and what was white. You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little.
- In this whole screwed-up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me, " he whispered. "I love you, Claire." She saw something that might have been just a flash of panic go across his expression, but then he steadied again. "I can't...
More Quotes By Graham Greene
- It's a strange thing to discover and to believe that you are loved when you know that there is nothing in you for anybody but a parent or a God to love.
- Like some wines our love could neither mature nor travel.
- If only it were possible to love without injury — fidelity isn’t enough: I had been faithful to Anne and yet I had injured her. The hurt is in the act of possession: we are too small in mind and body to possess another person...
- I had to touch you with my hands, I had to taste you with my tongue; one can't love and do nothing.
- I don't care a damn about men who are loyal to the people who pay them, to organizations... I don't think even my country means all that much. There are many countries in our blood, aren't there, but only one person. Would the world be...