I do believe that our modern English usage has become way too clipped and austere. I have been reading excerpts from the journals of 18th-century seafarers lately, and even the lowliest press-ganged deck-swabber turns a finer phrase than I do… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“The word for mother, umm, is the root of the words for “source, nation, mercy, first principle, rich harvest; stupid, illiterate, parasite, weak of… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“The lieutenant colonel wondered if the high scores reflected a defect in the newly built shooting range at the women’s academy. To find out,… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“No wonder simple men have always had their gods dwell in the high places. For as soon as a man lets his eye drop… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
I was really interested in how marriages work, how you can, you know, be in love with somebody and spend many years with your… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
Writing is like bricklaying; you put down one word after another. Sometimes the wall goes up straight and true and sometimes it doesn't and… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“... So this was how it was to be, now: I would do my best to live in the quick world, but the ghosts… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“They threw rotten fruit at me and told me next time it would be acid.” — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“You," he continued, grabbing my wrist. "All of you, from the safe world, with your air bags and your tamper-proof packaging and your fat-free diets. You are the superstitious ones. You convince yourself you can cheat death, and you are absolutely offended when you learn that you can't. You sat in your nice little flat all through our war and… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share
“This is how an owl must look to a mouse in that last second before the talons sink into the flesh.” — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
And so, as generally happens, those who have most give least, and those with less somehow make shrift to share. — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
“The author of this text did not write to provoke, but merely to express a truth as he conceives it. Your own theologians have tied logic in knots to advance a doctrine addressing this very same point. What is the Virgin Birth, after all, but the fumbling of minds striving to deal with the indelicate realities of the body? We… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share
“So, you are happy to be a pigeon?” “Maybe so. But at least a pigeon does no harm. The hawk lives at the expense… — Geraldine Brooks Copy Share Image
