Quotes About Observation

Do not listen to your enemy, Odysseus had once told me. Look at them. It will tell you everything.

He was watching me closely, reading my face over and over, like a priest searching the auguries for an answer. I could see the slight line in his forehead that meant utmost concentration. Something shifted in me then, like the frozen surface of the Apidanos in spring. I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phtia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.

This was a man who moved like the gods were watching: every gesture he made was upright and correct. There was no one else it could be but Hector

He admired the world like a jewel, turning its facets to catch the light.

That's the stone," I said, "like I told you. It can't get warm without sun. Haven't you ever touched a statue?

I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.

After that, I was craftier with my observation, kept my head down and my eyes ready to leap away. But he was craftier still. At least once a dinner he would turn and catch me before I could feign indifference. Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moments in my day that I felt anything at all. The sudden swoop of my stomach, the coursing anger. I was like a fish eyeing the hook.

He was watching me closely, reading my face over and over, like a priest searching the auguries for an answer. I could see the slight line in his forehead that meant utmost concentration. Something shifted in me then, like the frozen surface of the Apidanos in spring. I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.

It was one of my favorite things about him, how he admired the world like a jewel, turning its facets to catch the light. A well-made boat, a well-grown tree, a well-told story, these were all pleasures to him.

She [Mother Legge] was a vast, dusky, double-chinned mountain of a woman, with astute, little grey eyes; eyes that seemed rather to aim at not seeing what she wanted to avoid, than at seeing what she wanted to see.

He had the distracted chuckle of troubled old people who look within, keeping watch on failing organs.

She went inside and watched him walk back toward sixteen

Cathy introduced us. Christine stood there inside her smooth skin, warm and indolent, mildly speculative.

If you look over in that direction, like two hundred yards, you will see some birds walking. Never drive the boat toward where the birds are walking. First rule of navigation.

Walk very lightly and carefully, Wade. Look behind every bush.

The eye records. The eye takes vivid, unforgettable pictures.

When anybody looks directly at me, right into my eyes, which isn't normal, and doesn't do any fidgeting, which again isn't normal, and drops their voice level about a half octave and gets real grammatical, I just lay back and wait for them to bring out the three walnut shells and the rubber pea.

the fact that the visual experience before me was exactly the same as it has been for sixteen years.

To see you in love is far more powerful than any other lesson. A picture is worth a thousand words. It's important that your sons see your physical affection, to see you kiss, cuddle on the couch, hold hands in public. Oh, sure—they'll say they're "grossed out," tell you to "get a room." But they are watching and learning.

She breathes all the political gases that flow around this, but she never seems to inhale them.

They looked down on her; and she looked up through them.

You may wonder how I had not seen it before. I believe I had. But to see something is not the same as to acknowledge it.

I think he was a little like the lizard that changes color with its surroundings. He appeared far more a gentleman in a gentleman's house. In that inn, I saw him for what he was. And I knew his color there was far more natural than the other.

Armastan elada täisverelist elu, armastan kõiki, kes lihtsalt ei istu ja jälgi.