Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1) QUOTES

2 " He felt, though, that if love was the desire to possess someone, it was in reality the poor substance of self-love. It seemed to him that a greater, truer love was the desire to open a cage - be it made of iron bars or the bones of tormented injustice - and set the nightbird free. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

4 " Matthew fell on his belly, the pain in his ribs making him curl up like a stomped worm. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

6 " veritable "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

8 " Everyone goes on, " he repeated, with a taint of bitter mockery. "Oh, yes. They go on. With crippled spirits and broken ideals, they do go on. And with the passage of years they forget what crippled and broke them. They accept it grandly as they grow older, as if crippling and breaking were gifts from a king. Then those same hopeful spirits and large ideals in younger souls are viewed as stupid, and petty… and things to be crippled and broken, because everyone does go on." He looked into the woman's eyes. "Tell me. What is the point of life, if truth is not worth standing up for? If justice is a hollow shell? If beauty and grace are burnt to ashes, and evil rejoices in the flames? Shall I weep on that day, and lose my mind, or join the rejoicing and lose my soul? Shall I sit in my room? Should I go for a long walk, but where might I go so as not to smell the smoke? Should I just go on, Mrs. Nettles, like everyone else? "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

10 " There was a small noise—a snake’s hiss, perhaps—and the cup clamped tightly as the heated air within compressed itself. An instant after the hideous contact was made, Woodward cried out around the sassafras root and his body shivered in a spasm of pure, animal pain. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

12 " You'll recover. Ever'one goes on, as they must."

"Everyone goes on, " he repeated, with a taint of bitter mockery. "Oh, yes. They go on. With crippled spirits and broken ideals, they do go on. And with the passage of years they forget what crippled and broke them. They accept it grandly as they grow older, as if crippling and breaking were gifts from a king. Then those same hopeful spirits and large ideals in younger souls are viewed as stupid, and petty... and things to be crippled and broken, because everyone does go on. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

14 " Why?"

A great question had been asked, Matthew thought. The ultimate question, which might be asked only by explorers who would not return to share their knowledge of a new world. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

16 " It was an emotion, perhaps, that defied examination and could not be shaped to fit into any foursquare box of reason. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)

18 " Because of that, there was something frightening about it … something wild and uncontrollable, something that would not be constrained by logic. "

― Robert McCammon , Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)