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The Beach QUOTES

The Beach QUOTES

1 " Tourists went on holidays while travellers did something else. They travelled. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

2 " I don't like dealing with money transactions in poor countries. I get confused between the feeling that I shouldn't haggle with poverty and getting ripped off "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

3 " I didn't get the impression that the policeman cared much about the whole thing either. After another thirty minutes of ruthless interrogation ('Can you ve'fy you eat banan' pancake?') he let me go asking me not to leave Khao San within 24 hours "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

4 " As for me...
I'm fine. I have bad dreams, but I never saw Mister Duck again. I play video games. I smoke a little dope. I got my thousand-yard stare. I carry a lot of scares.
I like the way that sounds.
I carry a lot of scares. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

5 " An hour later we were walking past rows of busy beach huts and weaving between sunbathers and Frisbee games. I was surprised that people weren't taking more notice of us. Everyone looked so strange to me that I couldn't believe I didn't look equally strange to them. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

6 " You never listen to me anymore. Before, if I was talking to you, you would always listen. But now you have no time to even talk to me.
'Yeah... Has Keaty told you not to eat the Stew?'
'Richard!'
I frowned 'What?'
'You are not listening to me!'
'… Oh. Well I'm sorry. I've got a lot on my mind.'
'Not me.'
'Huh?'
'I am not on your mind.'
'Uh... of course you are.'
'I am not' she poked me in the ribs. 'I think you do not love me anymore.'
I looked at her in astonishment '… Are you serious?'
'Very serious' she said petulantly
'But... I mean... do we have to talk about this right now?'
'Yes. It must be now. Etienne is not here, and maybe soon I will never see you agai...'
'Francoise!' I hissed. 'Keep it down!'
'Maybe I should keep it down but maybe I should not. In the dope field, when I would not be quiet, you pushed me to the ground and held me tightly'. She giggled. 'It was very exciting'. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

7 " Moshe was an Israeli with an ear-slitting laugh. He used it in the same way as a madman uses a gun, spraying it around with bewildering randomness. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

8 " When you develop an infatuation for someone you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn’t need to be a good reason. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example. Now, in the long run, that’s just the kind of dumb, irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But in the haze of infatuation, it’s just what you’ve been searching for all these years. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

9 " If I'd learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. Don't talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a visa, pack a bag, and it just happens. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

10 " There's this saying: in an all-blue world, colour doesn't exist... If something seems strange, you question it; but if the outside world is too distant to use as a comparison then nothing seems strange. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

11 " Escape through travel works. Almost from the moment I boarded my flight, life in England became meaningless. Seat-belt signs lit up, problems switched off. Broken armrests took precedence over broken hearts. By the time the plane was airborne I'd forgotten England even existed. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

12 " I don’t keep a travel diary. I did keep a travel diary once and it was a big mistake. All I remember of that trip is what I bothered to write down. Everything else slipped away, as though my mind felt jilted by my reliance on pen and paper. For exactly the same reason I don’t travel with a camera. My holiday becomes the snapshots and anything I forget to record is lost. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

13 " If I'd learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. DOn't talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a vida, pack a bag, and it just happens. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

14 " You fish, swim, eat, laze around, and everyone's so friendly. It's such simple stuff, but... If i could stop the world and restart life, put the clock back, i think I'd restart it like this. For everyone. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

15 " There are one hundred glow-stars on my bedroom ceiling. (...) Glow-stars are strange. They make the ceiling disappear. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

16 " The first I heard of the beach was in Bangkok, on the Ko Sanh Road. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

17 " transparent evasion exercises. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

18 " There was nothing strange about it. Jed and i were on a covert mission. We had dinoculars, jungle, a quarry, a threat, the hidden presence of AK-47s and slanted eyes. The only missing element was a Doors soundtrack. "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

19 " He spoke in english. Not flawlessly by any means. Not like a Nazi POW camp commandant who appreciates english poetry and says things like 'you know, we are much alike, you and I I'. But good enough "

― Alex Garland , The Beach

20 " Jed! I got stuck in some air pocket with more exits than..." I couldn't think of anything famous with a large number of exits "I nearly drowned! "

― Alex Garland , The Beach