A bit of a departure here, but it’s a project I’ve been considering for a while: Sharing a few random passages from a particular book, words that moved me for one reason or another. (And part of that movement is wishing like hell that I had been the one who wrote these words in the first place, just being honest.)
Enjoy.
Thomas Tryon – “Lady” (1974)
“It could all be so beautiful,” she said as we turned to go, “if people were just kind.” I said I thought she was very wise. She laughed and tugged my ear. “Ah,” she said, taking my hand again, “what is more wise than to be kind? And what is more kind than to understand?”
“The truth is always made up of lots of smaller pieces of other truths.”
“She blushed all the time, and was almost self-effacing, as if she were afraid someone might discover that she was living on this planet.”
“I wish I could leave,” I said.
“Of course you do, darling, that’s what towns are for, to be left. But they’re there to come back to again.”
“But people are seldom really who they appear to be. They are only what they are. Sometimes it takes a lot of work and many years to discover what a person really is.”
“And another thing”—here she peered at me most gravely from behind her spectacles—“it is not good to expect too much from people. They give what they can. Sometimes it is all they can give.”
“Lying there, looking up at the stars, I wondered if any of us would ever get to do what we thought we wanted to, and I was conscious of yearnings I couldn’t define, vague yet distressing, and the realization of how hard it was to grow up, and what an unnatural process it seemed.”
“It is not the coming together or the parting of two people that counts, or where or when, but those two people themselves, and in what manner they are joined. And if it is not with hate but with love, not with impatience but with understanding, and never with boredom but with interest, then nothing can be wrong with their being together, no matter how wrong it may seem to others. But those others, they do not count, they must not be permitted to count, for it is only between the two persons themselves that it must have meaning. It is not so difficult for people to arrange their lives sensibly if they behave sensibly, but to arrange their lives happily, that is a far, far different thing.”
Note: Photo is a detail shot from the Catedral de Malagá. I no longer remember if this was from the floor or a wall, but I know I was in the main chapel, a gloriously-grand space that is so overwhelming that sometimes you have to focus in on one thing at a time, which I think fits the theme of the above quote selections.
Categories: Reflections
Bonnywood Manor 
That last excerpt…sigh.
How beautiful. I love it
♡
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, that last passage is wonderful. The words stand well enough on their own, but in the context of the story, it really packs an even more emotional wallop…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful choices. It costs nothing to be kind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And yet so many people still find simple kindness to be too expensive…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent departure 👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
Great post 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Loved everything about this, Brian: the idea, the passages from Tryon, and the photo. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you kindly, Donna. Great writing is something we should all relish and share…
LikeLike
This is a fantastic idea and an awesome inaugural post!
I have folders of notes and highlighted passages in ebooks (I only mark actual books with food or beverage stains TYVM), words that really resonated with me.
I hope there will be more episodes in this series.😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once again, we have something in common. One of the reasons I cherish this ebook phenom is that ability to highlight text and send a copy to my email with just a few finger clicks. (And that’s exactly how I gathered these quotes, although I originally read this book many years ago when the only way to capture the words was to get off your ass and go find a pencil and paper.)
That being the case, I have tons of books quotes squirreled away, hither and yon, so this series should run for at least a season or two… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely departure, and sounds like a book I need to check out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I highly recommend the book. The “big reveal” at the end falls a bit flat for most modern readers, but for the time period of the story, it was rather significant. That aside, the writing is very fine, indeed, and something of a departure for Tryon, who at that point was more famous for his “horror” novels “The Other” and “Harvest Home”…
LikeLiked by 1 person
The writing! It’s beautiful. Reminds me of yours.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And with that comment, dear friend, you just completely made my day… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love these excerpts. Thanks for sharing them, Brian. You, too, are kind. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww, thank you. But really, kindness should be instinctive. I don’t know how so many folks got away from that…
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is lovely–what a great idea:-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
And I hope that I can keep focused enough to cobble together more of these, as I really enjoyed doing it…
LikeLiked by 1 person