Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish QUOTES

2 " Rough work with a soul will always be open to all, including condemnation & reviling, while fine work housing emptiness is closed to all insults & is easily ivied over with paid praises "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

4 " The tourists had money and we needed it; they only asked in return to be lied to and deceived and told that single most important thing, that they were safe, that their sense of security—national, individual, spiritual—wasn’t a bad joke being played on them by a bored and capricious destiny. To be told that there was no connection between then and now, that they didn't need to wear a black armband or have a bad conscience about their power and their wealth and everybody else’s lack of it; to feel rotten that no-one could or would explain why the wealth of a few seemed so curiously dependent on the misery of the many. We kindly pretended that it was about buying and selling chairs, about them asking questions about price and heritage, and us replying in like manner.

But it wasn’t about price and heritage, it wasn’t about that at all.

The tourists had insistent, unspoken questions and we just had to answer as best we could, with forged furniture. They were really asking, 'Are we safe?' and we were really replying, 'No, but a barricade of useless goods may help block the view.' And because hubris is not just an ancient Greek word but a human sense so deep-seated we might better regard it as an unerring instinct, they were also wanting to know, 'If it is our fault, then will we suffer?' and we were really replying, 'Yes, and slowly, but a fake chair may make us both feel better about it. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

6 " To be fair to them, they were only after something that walled them off from the past and from people in general, not something that offered any connection that might prove painful or human. Thet wanted stories, I came to realise, in which they were already imprisoned, not stories in which they appeared along with the storyteller, accomplices in escaping. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

8 " Once upon a time...long ago in a far-off place that everyone knows is not here or now or us. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

10 " When forging money, I had always salved my conscience by concluding that I was merely extending the lie of commerce. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

12 " Նույիսկ այս այլանդակ կղզու այլանդակ չափանիշներով Յորգեն Յորգենսենը, որքան էլ որ փքվեր, հավալուսնի խղճուկ մի կղկղանք էր՝ երկար ու սուր անկյուններով, կարճ ասած՝ ոչ թե մարդ, այլ վերնահագուստի կանգուն կախիչ, որը փորձում է հիշել, թե տարիներ առաջ ինչ հագուստ է իր կեռիկից ընկել: "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

14 " The sum of such chaos was that I seemed to be reading a book that never really started and never quite finished. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

16 " Գաղութապետն ուզում էր ասել, որ ինքը վերջապես գիտի այն հարցի պատասխանը, որը վաղուց տանջում էր իրեն: Իշանությանը ձգտելը, եզրակացրեց նա իր մտքի պարզության վերջին պահին, սիրո բացակայության և, որն ավելի վատ է, սիրելու անընդունակության ամենացավալի արտահայտությունն է: "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

18 " The story enchanted me, and I took to carrying the book with me everywhere, as if it were some powerful talisman, as if it contained some magic that might somehow convey or explain something fundamental to me. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

20 " Perhaps if Tasmania had been a normal place where you had a proper job, spent hours in traffic in order to spend more hours in a normal crush of anxieties waiting to return to a normal confinement, and where no-one ever dreamt what it was like to be a seahorse, abnormal things like becoming a fish wouldn't happen to you. "

― Richard Flanagan , Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish