Mervyn Peake

Seeing an Earl as an owl on a mantelpiece, and having part of one's face removed by a cat, both on the…

— Mervyn Peake

“I, while the gods laugh, the world's vortex am; Maelström of passions in that hidden sea Whose waves of all-time lap the…

— Mervyn Peake

We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast, paper-walled prison our convicts, the little black printed words,…

— Mervyn Peake

“Words can be tiresome as a swarm of insects. They can prick and buzz! Words can be no more than a series…

— Mervyn Peake

“His staff had shaken hands with her as though a woman was merely another kind of man. Fools! The seeds of Eve…

— Mervyn Peake

“Prunesquallor, as urbane as ever, had nevertheless something in his fish-like eyes that might almost be described as determination. One glance at…

— Mervyn Peake

“The puckered-up face of the newly-born child, old as the world, wise as the roots of trees. Sin was there and goodness,…

— Mervyn Peake

“He knew that he was caught up in one of those stretches of time when for anything to happen normally would be…

— Mervyn Peake

“The Aunts put their arms about one another so that their faces were cheek to cheek, and from this doublehead they gazed…

— Mervyn Peake

“I know she’ll hate him. She likes to be the only one, you know. She likes to dream that she’s queen and…

— Mervyn Peake

“The love of the painter standing alone and staring, staring at the great coloured surface he is making. Standing with him in…

— Mervyn Peake

“As the figure moved before him he followed the muscles as they wove beneath the skin. he was not only fighting with…

— Mervyn Peake

“One thing at a time,' said the Boy. 'You must be patient. This is a day of hope and wild revenge. Do…

— Mervyn Peake

“It was then that the Boy went through his darkest hell of all: the long ache of his body, acute as it…

— Mervyn Peake

“That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was cigarette ash all over his trousers. His untidy moustache was yellower…

— Mervyn Peake

“She was gauche in movement and in a sense, ugly of face, but with how small a twist might she not suddenly…

— Mervyn Peake

“Glorious,' said Steerpike, 'is a dictionary word. We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast, paper-walled prison…

— Mervyn Peake

“Equality,' said Steerpike,' is the thing. It is the only true and central premise from which constructive ideas can radiate freely and…

— Mervyn Peake

His was not the hatred that arises suddenly like a storm and as suddenly abates. It was, once the initial shock of…

— Mervyn Peake

“As his lord stared at the door another figure appeared, a girl of about fifteen with long, rather wild black hair. She…

— Mervyn Peake

“His youth had been so long ago that he could remember nothing of it but he presumed, erroneously, that he had tasted…

— Mervyn Peake

Through her, in microcosm, the wide earth sobbed. The starglobe sank in her; the colours faded. The death-dew rose and the wild…

— Mervyn Peake

“Home is a room dappled with firelight: there are pictures and books. And when the rain sighs, and the acorns fall, there…

— Mervyn Peake

“Indeed he had worn that piece of furniture - or symbol of bone-laziness - into such a shape as made the descent…

— Mervyn Peake

As I see it, life is an effort to grip before they slip through one's fingers and slide into oblivion, the startling,…

— Mervyn Peake

“How merciful a thing is man's ignorance of his immediate future! What a ghastly, paralysing thing it would have been if all…

— Mervyn Peake

“What is Time, O sister of similar features, that you speak of it so subserviently? Are we to be the slaves of…

— Mervyn Peake

“So limp of brain that for them to conceive an idea is to risk a haemorrhage. So limp of body that their…

— Mervyn Peake

“Each day we live is a glass room Until we break it with the thrusting Of the spirit and pass through The…

— Mervyn Peake

“He is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild,…

— Mervyn Peake

“She had expressed herself, as women will, in a smug broadside of pastel shades. Nothing clashed because nothing had the strength to…

— Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were…

— Mervyn Peake

The moon slid inexorably into its zenith, the shadows shrivelling to the feet of all that cast them, and as Rantel approached…

— Mervyn Peake

“Here, are the stiffening hills, here, the rich cargo Congealed in the dark arteries, Old veins That hold Glamorgan's blood. The midnight…

— Mervyn Peake

“There is a love that equals in its power the love of man for woman and reaches inwards as deeply. It is…

— Mervyn Peake

The crumbling castle, looming among the mists, exhaled the season, and every cold stone breathed it out. The tortured trees by the…

— Mervyn Peake

“She and her sister were dressed in purple, with gold buckles at their throats by way of brooches, and another gold buckle…

— Mervyn Peake

“Fuchsia took three paces forward in the first of the attics and then paused a moment to re-tie a string above her…

— Mervyn Peake

“The road was wet with rain, black and shiny like oilskin. The reflection of the street lamps wallowed like yellow jelly-fish. A…

— Mervyn Peake

“Or on retiring to Prunesquallors' he might take down one of the Doctor's many books and read, for these days a passion…

— Mervyn Peake