Quotes About Observation

my heartbeat woke me with its thudding cry of look look look.

He was putting on a show for us, that much was clear, but why were we all watching it?

And a tape recorder, spinning slow like taffy, taking down every word.

the moon's incurious eye.

though I spotted Bernie Nordman, co-owner of Ace Hardware, make her way into the computer/library/board game back room with a steaming mug in one hand and what appeared to be a cherry Danish in

He laughed, but his face was unreadable as he looked at her titles. "Ah, a collection from Sir Walter Scott. Very nice, I've always liked his poetry. Sense and Sensibility, but surely you have read this one." She nodded after a moment. "Y-Yes. It is one of my favorites. I only rather liked this binding." He held his gaze on her for a moment and then nodded.

the world is built to eat you alive, but before you go down the gullet, the bastards can't stop you from looking around.

What does it take for a person to be able to recognize evil as it unfolds? To see with foresight and acuity .

A girl sees what she likes, a boy likes what he sees.

And yet she didn't want to kill herself. She loved the world too much, and people. She loved taking long walks in the late afternoon, and observing her surroundings. She loved the green of the sea, the light of dusk, the rocks scattered on the sand. She loved the taste of a red pear in autumn, the full, heavy winter moon that shone amid the clouds. She loved the warmth of her bed, a good book to read without being interrupted. To enjoy that, she would have lived forever.

He especially enjoyed watching Mrs. Sen as she chopped things, seated on newspapers on the living room floor. Instead of a knife she used a blade that curved like the prow of a Viking ship, sailing to battle in distant seas. The blade was hinged at one end to a narrow wooden base.

Dr. Grant was right, the feeling no longer swallows her. Bela lives on its periphery, she takes it in at a distance. The way her grandmother, sitting on a terrace in Tollygunge, used to spend her days overlooking a lowland, a pair of ponds.

Amava troppo il mondo, la gente. Amava fare lunghe passeggiate nel tardo pomeriggio osservando ciò che la circondava. Amava il verde del mare, la luce del crepuscolo, i sassi sparsi sulla sabbia. Amava il sapore di una pera rossa in autunno, la luna piena e pesante d'inverno che brillava fra le nuvole. Amava il calore del suo letto, un buon libro da leggere senza interruzione. Per godere di questo, sarebbe vissuta per sempre.

I start with very short pieces, usually no more than a handwritten page. I try to focus on something specific: a person, a moment, a place. I do what I ask my student to do when I teach creative writing. I explain to them that such fragments are the first steps to take before constructing a story. I think a writer should observe the real world before imagining a nonexistent one.

As Mr. Sen backed out of the parking lot, he put his arm across the top of the front seat, so that it looked as if he had his arm around Mrs. Sen.

At restaurants and bars, they sometimes slip Bengali phrases into their conversation in order to comment with impunity on another diner's unfortunate hair or shoes.

I see the people who have lived here forever. They walk quickly, indifferent to the buildings. They cross the squares without stopping. I

Avoiding puddles, stepping over mats of hyacinth leaves that remained in place. Breathing the dank air.

Fiction begins with the senses, and the senses go to work in a place.

Part of the way that I work is to observe.

I learn a lot from every director that I work with. I sit on set and watch them, every one.

He looks like a man.' 'How descriptive,' Susan said in a droll tone. 'Remind me never to advise you to seek work as a novelist.

I can't work out much about myself or what I see in the world around me unless I do it through writing.

I never appear in any of your work, come to think of it, Calvin [Trillin]. And I look.