Home > Work > Ross Poldark (Poldark #1)
41 " The acme of futility was to regret a pleasure that was past, and he had no intention of doing so. "
― Winston Graham , Ross Poldark (Poldark #1)
42 " through all the monotony and the splendor of life. "
43 " Otherwise,” said Dr. Halse, “we will have you committed for contempt of court.” Ross bowed slightly. “I can only assure you, sir, that such a committal would be a reading of my inmost thoughts. "
44 " Instead this room which had seen her grow to maturity would see her dry up and fade. The gilt mirror in the corner would bear its dispassionate testimony. All these ornaments and furnishings would be her companions through the years to come. And she realised that she would come to hate them, if she didn't already hate them, as one hates the witnesses of one's humiliation and futility. "
45 " Qualified help was weak and timid. Either you come out dead against the attachment or else help without reservation, without giving the impression of reluctance and disapproval. "
46 " How old are you?” “Thirteen…sur.” It was the first time she had sirred him. He might have known that these undersized, half-starved waifs were always older than they looked. "
47 " I am not a good pleader', he said; 'being too infernal conscious of my own dignity. The dignified fool, Demelza, gets nowhere beside the suave flattering rogue. "
48 " So he found that what he had half despised was not despicable, that what had been for him the satisfaction of an appetite, a pleasant but commonplace adventure in disappointment, owned wayward and elusive depths he had not known before, and carried the knowledge of beauty in its heart. "
49 " Jud threw down the turfs he had brought in. “If you learned her to hold ’er tongue,” he said pettishly to his wife, “’twould be a sight betterer than learning ’er that. If you learned ’er manners, how to speak respectable to folk and answer respectable an’ be respectable to her elders an’ betters, ’twould be a sight betterer than that. Then ye could pat yourself on the ’ead and say, ‘Thur, I’m doing a tidy job, learning her to be respectable.’ But what are ’ee doing? Tedn’t ’ard to answer. Tedn’t ’ard to see. You’re learning her to be sassy. "
50 " Lazy in everything,” said Ross, “but the search for excuses. Like two old pigs in their sty and as slow to move from their own patch of filth.” Prudie "
51 " The attitude of the Bodrugans to his idea of letting a poacher off with a warning was, he knew, the attitude all society would adopt, though they might dress it in politer phrases. Even Cornish society, which looked with such tolerance on the smuggler. The smuggler was a clever fellow who knew how to cheat the government of its revenues and bring them brandy at half price. The poacher not only trespassed literally upon someone’s land, he trespassed metaphorically upon all the inalienable rights of personal property. He was an outlaw and a felon. Hanging was barely good enough. "
52 " I must think of something to say, thought Verity. Why have I no small talk like those girls over there? If I could help him to talk, he would like me more; he’s shy like me, and I ought to make things easier, not harder. There’s farming but he would not be attracted by my pigs and poultry. Mining I’m no more interested in than he. The sea I know nothing of except cutters and seiners and other small fry. The shipwreck last month…but that might not be a tactful thing to discuss. Why can’t I just say, la, la, la, and giggle and be fanciful. "
53 " people, even well-bred people like those, had a surprising tendency to take you at your own valuation. "
54 " It was since he returned home that the evil eye of discontent had been on him, making empty air of his attempts to find a philosophy of his own, turning to ashes whatever he grasped. "
55 " Why must you plague me with these questions in the middle of the night? "
56 " to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, there and then, past and present and to come. "
57 " Like all human beings she could not refrain from idly comparing what she had with what she might have had. "
58 " [...] Mi ci vorrebbe un po’ più di gentilezza ora che respiro ancora, ecco cosa.» "
59 " Lui resterà con me. Non perché deve, ma perché vuole. "
60 " In alto nel cielo c’era uno sbuffo di nuvole rosa e zafferano. "