Quotes From "The Return" By

After all, what is every man? A horde of ghosts — like a Chinese nest of boxes — oaks that were acorns that were oaks. Death lies behind us, not in front — in our ancestors, back and back until... Unknown

It was this mystery, bereft now of all fear, and this beauty together that made life the endless, changing and yet changeless, thing it was. And yet mystery and loveliness alike were really only appreciable with one's legs, as it were, dangling down over into the grave. Unknown

Lear, Macbeth. Mercutio — they live on their own as it were. The newspapers are full of them, if we were only the Shakespeares to see it. Have you ever been in a Police Court? Have you ever watched tradesmen behind their counters? My soul, the secrets walking in the streets! You jostle them at every corner. There's a Polonius in every first-class railway carriage, and as many Juliets as there are boarding-schools.. How inexhaustibly rich everything is, if you only stick to life. Unknown

That's why I've just gone on … collecting this particular kind of stuff — what you might call riff-raff. There's not a book here, Lawford, that hasn't at least a glimmer of the real thing in it — just Life, seen through a living eye, and felt. As for literature, and style, and all that gallimaufry, don't fear for them if your author has the ghost of a hint of genius in his making. Unknown

He seemed to be staring at the chain hanging from the ceiling fan. Seconds later, he confirmed this by reaching out and tugging the chain. Light clicked on. He tugged the chain again. Light went off. Oh for gods' sake, he had a mean case of ADD sometimes. "Apollo, " I snapped. Jennifer L. Armentrout

Apollo watched me closely, intently. “No.”My eyes narrowed. “No to what?”“ I’m not sending you after them. Not yet, ” he said, surprising me into silence–a rarity. “I have another task for you. You need to leave for southern Virginia immediately. I’d snap your sunshine-and-rainbows ass there, but now that you’ve annoyed me, you’ll drive the twenty or so hours to get there.” Okay. That was irritating, but I kind of liked road trips, so whatever. “What’s in southern Virginia?”“Radford University.”I waited. I waited some more, and then sighed. “Okay. You want me to enroll in college?” I asked, and Apollo tipped back his head and laughed so loudly, he actually whooped. I frowned. “What the hell is so funny about that idea?”“ You. College. Using your head. That’s what’s funny.” I was seconds away from blasting him with akasha. Jennifer L. Armentrout

I glanced over to where Seth looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall. “Hey.”The blond continued to smile, while his friend continued to stare at me. Seth sighed again. “The one grinning like he’s crazy is Deacon, and the other one is Luke.”“We’re friends of his–of Seth’s, ” Deacon threw in, and Seth did not look like they were friends.“ This is Josie, ” Seth continued. “Please don’t be weird and scare her.”“ Be weird?” Deacon rolled those gray eyes. “Ha. Whatever, dude. All you need to know about me is that I’m like a dolphin in a sea of less-smart fish, ” he announced, spreading his arms with a flourish. Luke turned to him slowly as his eyebrows inched up his forehead. “What?”He shrugged. “Just saying I have a lot in common with dolphins. They’re smart. I’m smart.” Seth rubbed his hand down his face. . Jennifer L. Armentrout

Seth joined the group of very stern-looking men, and they immediately started talking, their voices too low for me to hear, but it didn’t stop me from trying. I learned fairly quickly that I sucked at reading lips. Everything looked like they were saying “tomatoes” or “I love you” and I doubted that was what was being said. Jennifer L. Armentrout

Science, I am told, is making great strides, experimenting, groping after things which no sane man has ever dreamed of before — without being burned alive for it. Unknown

We are *all* we are, and all in a sense we care to dream we are. And for that matter, anything outlandish, bizarre, is a godsend in this rather stodgy life. It is after all just what the old boy said — it's only the impossible that's credible; whatever credible may mean... Unknown

Fancies were all very well for a change, but must be only occasional guests in a world devoted to reality. Unknown

God has mercifully ordered that the human brain works slowly; first the blow, hours afterwards the bruise. Unknown

It was a pity thoughts always ran the easiest way, like water in old ditches. Unknown

Yes, after all, this by now was his customary loneliness: there was little else he desired for the present than the hospitality of the dark. Unknown

I believe in the devil, in the Powers of Darkness, Lawford, as firmly as I believe he and they are powerless — in the long run. They — what shall we say? - have surrendered their intrinsicality. You can just go through evil, as you can go through a sewer, and come out on the other side. A loathsome process too. Unknown

The mansion was as silent as I wished the inside of my head could be. No noise — not even a ragged inhale of breath or a whispered word. Truly blissful. Jennifer L. Armentrout

The time's gone by for sentiment and all that foolery. Mercy's all very well but after all it's justice that clinches the bargain. Unknown

Does love survive? Yes, I thought, somewhere in some place it is saved and made sacred. Christopher Pike

A soft smile curved up her lips, and my gut dropped a little. A smile… I’d never known a smile could have that kind of effect. Could feel like a kick to the chest. Jennifer L. Armentrout

I cupped her chin and tilted it back, deepening the kiss, wanting to somehow claim her very soul. Funny thing was, it was my soul that was being claimed, my breath that was being stolen, and my heart that was pounding crazy fast in my chest. Jennifer L. Armentrout

Bold courage is paralyzing fear after humble prayer. Kenneth E. Nowell

In these days of faith-cures, and hypnotism, and telepathy, and subliminalities — why, the simple old world grows very confusing. But rarely, very rarely novel. Unknown

A demigod?” I repeated like I’d just learned to speak a few seconds ago. “A real, live demigod?”“ Opposed to a fake, dead one?” He chuckled, proud of himself, and then sighed when my eyes narrowed on him. “You used to have a sense of humor, Seth. Jennifer L. Armentrout

Your sarcasm and general assholeness are not necessary, ” Apollo remarked casually. I grinned at him. “I don’t think ‘assholeness’ is a word.”“ It is if I say it is.” Apollo drew in a deep breath, a sure sign his temper was reaching its knock- Seth-into-the-nearby-ocean point. Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lawford had soundlessly stolen a pace or two nearer, and by stopping forward he could, each in turn, scrutinize the little intent company sitting over his story around the lamp at the further end of the table; squatting like little children with their twigs and pins, fishing for wonders on the brink of the unknown. Unknown

Once a man strays out of the common herd, he's more likely to meet wolves in the thickets than angels. Unknown

It was to be a day of queer experiences. He had never realized with how many miracles mere everyday life is besieged. Unknown