“It took Descartes to deduce that God would not wish to deceive us. The world must be as it appears to be, the Frenchman deduced, because a perfect God would never wish to deceive us. Nothing has been explicable since.” — Tim Parks Copy Share Image
“It was to be, and still is, an absolute staple of the Italian railways, whether public or private, that in some way or other,… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“A big gloomy space was piled with bags, boxes, suitcases, parcels, umbrellas. There were a few shelves but no apparent order. Some of the… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“Government and unions have negotiated a minimum service to be maintained during strikes.” — Tim Parks Copy Share
“And when Deirdre Bair went to interview Beckett for the biography the first thing he said was, ‘So you’ve come to demonstrate that it… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“It makes the nation possible and allows it to remain fragmented, allows people to live double lives.” — Tim Parks Copy Share
“Your ticket says via Pordenone,” he told me. “Don’t you read your documento di viaggio?” I was fascinated. What kind of man is it… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“In America the lack of investment in train travel speaks eloquently of a country always ready to appear righteous but pathologically averse to surrendering… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“It took Descartes to deduce that God would not wish to deceive us. The world must be as it appears to be, the Frenchman… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“Once, when the minibar boy saw me promptly dump my receipt in the ashtray, he warned me that I was legally obliged to retain… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“[T]hese three days of meditation have revealed to me that every thought I think is, in one way or another, an ugly, fatuous form… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“All writing is a sin against speechlessness,’ Beckett had said. He would have stopped, I thought, if he could.” — Tim Parks Copy Share
“it was through constructing a network of railways across some of Europe’s most arduous terrain that the newly formed Italian nation won a reputation… — Tim Parks Copy Share
“Prepare for surprises in the second part, where everything changes so that much can remain the same.” — Tim Parks Copy Share
“However reluctant Italians are to embrace a multiracial society, the old antipathy to government and authority works in favor of the illegal alien.” — Tim Parks Copy Share
