Quotes from Mark Helprin

There are times for sleep, for inactivity, dreaming, indiscipline, even lethargy. You'll know when you deserve these times. They come after you've been broken. I'm speaking of a helpless, tranquil state before the great excitement of dawn.

I was put in charge, made a general, and sent into Serbia, where, by dint of my own ingenuity, we served honorably but did not kill a soul. And that, believe me, is very hard with the Serbs, because they are very ingenious themselves, and they have a passion for martyrdom. I've been a field marshal for two years. I have so many medals that when I wear them I look like a window in a junk shop.

Because two propositions can be true at once, he said. Because the world is imperfect. Because we are imperfect. Because sometimes we're called upon to do terrible things. And because we define ourselves in dying, which is, he indicated by motioning with his head toward the arena, what this is. Give us at least that.

Hoheit, do you know why crows are black? No, I never thought of it. They taste lousy, and they're black as a sure sign to predators that they're crows, who will taste lousy. Why aren't they yellow? They live in cold climates, and black absorbs heat. They don't need camouflage, so they can take advantage of the way their color soaks up the sunlight. Why do you ask me these questions? Klodwig demanded. To remind you, Hoheit, not to argue with nature.

I've never touched a woman, Nicolò said, in deep despair. You will. It'll take you years to learn what to do—not because it's a matter of technique, but precisely because it isn't. It's a matter of deep understanding, and of love. Nowadays, people have a problem with sex, I think. Popular culture is obsessed with it. It has become almost a sickness. It never was when I was a boy, and when I was in my prime.

battle—a sense that time does not exist, that he himself was of no account, that all things were connected and orchestrated far beyond human will, and that the world was saturated with beauty no matter what the loss.

I suppose that's because you have faith in the judicial system that will try us. Yes. I have faith that we will be found guilty and that we will be shot. Your faith will be rewarded. Why? It hasn't been for the last few years.

Najbardziej zafrapowaÅ'o jÄ… to, w jaki sposób miasto siÄ™ porusza. Z oddali wszystkie jego ruchome elementy wydawaÅ'y siÄ™ podlega? jednemu prawu, niewidocznemu dla ?adnego z osobna. Rzecznymi statkami poruszaÅ' mocny kontrapunkt, mocny jak magnetyczna siÅ'a, wyczuwaÅ'o siÄ™ go tak wyra?nie, jak widziaÅ'o siÄ™ ich sylwetki. Ich zawiÅ'e kursy byÅ'y jak niewidzialne nici.

Off Castle Garden, a mile to the southeast, near the western edge of Governors Island, a ship lay resting through a foggy spring night before the long and arduous trip back to the old world—whether Riga, Naples, or Constantinople is not certain.

You're crazy, Ludovico announced. Alessandro held his finger in the air. Ah! he said, but at least I'm able to tell you my last name, and at least, when they take me out to the stake my dreams may be just beginning, whereas yours, by your own definition, must and will come to a dark end. You fool yourself. Your illusions will fall away even before the end. They won't do you any good. You'll see.

A benevolent act is like a locust: it sleeps until it is called.

Peter Lake spurred the horse again, and extended his right arm like a lance, pointing it at the motionless officer. As they went by in a blur of white, he lifted the man's cap from his head, saying, "Allow me to take your hat." The enraged policeman pivoted, took out his notebook, and furiously wrote a description of the horse's buttocks.

I don't have a system. Theology is a system. Not my theology. Then what is it? What is it? It's the overwhelming combination of all that I've seen, felt, and cannot explain, that has stayed with me and refused to depart, that drives me again and again to a faith of which I am not sure, that is alluring because it will not stoop to be defined by so inadequate a creature as man. Unlike Marxism, it is ineffable, and it cannot be explained in words.

Craig Binky siedziaÅ' w widocznym miejscu i to, co nastÄ…piÅ'o w tej chwili, nie umkn??o uwadze ani jednej osoby. ZÅ'apaÅ' siÄ™ za pierÅ› i brew, jakby dostaÅ' zawaÅ'u i udaru jednoczeÅ›nie, po czym zaczÄ…Å' siÄ™ krzywi?, wykonujÄ…c seriÄ™ min, których ekspresja zawstydziÅ'aby prawdziwego mima.

The old man did not want to waste energy, because he was beginning to warm up, to feel an oncoming sensation of strength and equanimity. If he didn't upset it, the equanimity would carry him forward in a trance.

Harry understood that those left behind—the failures and the deformed, the suffering and the dead—are not just equal in soul, but that they are we and we are they. Struggle as we may for distinction, soon enough we fail, and, without exception, follow.

By this time, no matter how hard he tried to understand, Nicolò's eyes had begun to glaze, but Alessandro had no fear of bending green cane, because he knew it seldom broke. "Remember this, then—even if

Rome was not meant to move, but to be beautiful. The wind was supposed to be the fastest thing here, and the trees, bending and swaying, to slow it down. Now

Truth is not anchored to the ground by driven piles. It can float and take to the air; it is light and lovely and delicate. It is feminine as well as masculine. It is often gentle, and sometimes it can even make a fool of itself—but when it does it calls down God (who protects weak creatures), and suddenly its foolishness becomes a blazing, piercing light.

I have three hooves in the pasture and one already in the grave, but I have a few things more to tell before I get to the smoke and thunder.

Zrobimy to, co zawsze robiÄ™ w takich sytuacjach, co robiÅ'em ju? sto razy, co automatycznie robi ka?dy, kto naprawdÄ™ zna góry. – To znaczy? – KatapultÄ™.

Don't worry about me, no matter what happens. We're nervous here, but not afraid. We have all looked into our souls, one way or another, and are content to die if need be. The only thing left to say is that I love you.

For the next hour or two, keeping up with Alessandro would be a task that would set the boy to breathing hard and make him think that something might be wrong with his heart, because he found it difficult to stay even with an old man who carried a cane and whose every step was a cross between an uncontrolled pivot and a barely arrested fall.

Its funny, as soon as you lose faith, you have children, and life reawakens.