01c. 1955 ADAnd what of this young woman beside him, whom he had loved devotedly for four years and still did love? She had given him more than Elizabeth ever could: months of unflawed relationship, unquestioning trust (which he was now betraying in thought) . Oh nonsense! What man did not at some time or another glance elsewhere? And who could complain if it remained at a glance? (Chance was a fine thing).Winston Graham / quote ↗
02c. 1955 ADI have little use for religion as it is practiced, or for astrology, or for belief in witchcraft or omens of good or ill-luck. I think they all stem from some insufficiency in men’s minds, perhaps from a lack of a willingness to feel themselves utterly alone. But now and then I feel that there is something beyond the material world, somethings we all feel intimations of but cannot explain. Underneath the religious vision there is the harsh fundamental reality of all our lives, because we know we must live and die as the animals we are. But sometimes I suspect that under that harsh reality there is a further vision, still deeper based, that comes nearer to true reality than the reality we know.Winston Graham / quote ↗
03c. 1955 ADBut fear and fascination are yokefellows, oxen out of step but pulling in the same direction...Winston Graham / quote ↗
04c. 1955 ADEveryone," Ross said, "seems a little less concerned than I do. Am I more tender-hearted for others or only tender because of my own conscience?""We are not–untender," she said. "Not so. But maybe we are more–resigned. When a man is condemned to death we accept it, though it's sad to do so. We know we cannot change it. You hoped to change it–so it's more of a–a disappointment. You feel you have failed. We don't feel that because we never hoped to succeed.Winston Graham / quote ↗
07c. 1955 ADEverything at the moment, my dear, no doubt seems disgusting. I know the mood too well. But being in that mood, Ross, is like being out in the frost. If we do not keep on the move we shall perish.Winston Graham / quote ↗
08c. 1955 ADDemelza was beginning to feel like a lion tamer who has been putting his pets through their paces and finds them getting out of hand.Winston Graham / quote ↗
09c. 1955 ADMonthly, out of common courtesy, he went to inquire after the invalid Charles, who refused either to die or get better.Winston Graham / quote ↗
10c. 1955 ADI could say how well he dances, but that isn't true, for he dances like that big friendly bear I saw last Christmas.Winston Graham / quote ↗
11c. 1955 AD...Here, beast, you shall be the chairman, and mind you call us to order." He leaned forward and dropped the cat on the empty seat.Winston Graham / quote ↗
12c. 1955 ADIf every one of you was to clean before his own front door, all would be clean of cow flops.Winston Graham / quote ↗
13c. 1955 ADThat reminds me of when you used to call and see us before Christmas, the year before last. Somehow–somehow life was all dark and secret and beautiful then.Winston Graham / quote ↗
14c. 1955 ADOf course he'll bring no money. Nor never will. He's not the type to--accumulate. But it's a good name to have. And he's becoming a personality in the county. One never knows quite why this happens, eh? Not so much what a man does. More a matter of character.Winston Graham / quote ↗
15c. 1955 ADI suspect that for a good deal of the time you live in a sort of glass case, not knowing real enthusiasm or genuine emotion; or feeling them perhaps at second hand, feeling them sometimes because you think you ought to, not because you really do.Winston Graham / quote ↗
16c. 1955 ADGod, thought Ross, it does work, and unfairly; but I want her, not any other, not the most beautiful eighteen-year-old damsel born out of a sea-shell, not the most seductive houri of any sultan's harem; I want her with her familiar gestures and her shining smile and her scarred knees, and I know she wants me in just the same way, and if there's any happiness more complete than this I don't know it and am not sure I even want it.Winston Graham / quote ↗
17c. 1955 ADIn the depths of horror and despair, one comes to a new steadiness. There is no farther to fall.Winston Graham / quote ↗
18c. 1955 ADAll men were born in the same way: no privilege existed that was not of man's own contriving.Winston Graham / quote ↗
19c. 1955 ADI've interrupted a party. Is it in celebration of the peace or in honor of the next war?Winston Graham / quote ↗
21c. 1955 ADDid I behave myself tonight, Ross?’ she asked. ‘Did I behave as Mrs Poldark should behave?’‘You misbehaved monstrously,’ he said, ‘and were a triumph.Winston Graham / quote ↗
22c. 1955 ADThe most frightening blazing anger was alive in her now. It was not only Elizabeth that she could have killed but Ross. She could have thrown every piece of crockery at him, and knives and forks too. Indeed she could have attacked him knife in hand. Fundamentally there was nothing meek or mild about her. She was a fighter, and it showed now.Winston Graham / quote ↗
23c. 1955 ADDo you believe we are masters of ourselves, or merely dance like puppets on strings having the illusion of independence?Winston Graham / quote ↗
24c. 1955 ADYet, although he could not quite work this out in simple terms in his own mind, the very savour of life, he thought, was itself enhanced if it were not totally taken for granted. Perhaps it was something to do with the whole philosophy of the world into which we were born. If we lived for ever, who would look forward eagerly to tomorrow? If there were no darkness, should we appreciate the sun? Warmth after cold, food after hunger, drink after thirst, sexual love after the absence of sexual love, the fatherly greeting after being away, the comfort and dryness of home after a ride in the rain, the warmth and peace and security of one’s fireside after being among enemies. Unless there was contrast there might be satiety.Winston Graham / quote ↗
