Quotes
List here any quote, from Gerald Durrell's book My Family and Other Animals. Quotes that inspire you, or give you a strong visual image, or maybe you just admire the author's use of words .....
poetic, lyrical, straightforward, cultural, etc ...
... Larry was designed by Providence to go through life like a small, blond firework, exploding ideas in other people's minds, and then curling up with catlike unctuousness and refusing to take blame for any consequences.
ReplyDelete"I can't be expected to produce deathless prose in an atmosphere of gloom and eucalyptus."
ReplyDeleteFrance rain-washed and sorrowful, Switzerland like a Christmas cake, Italy, exuberant, noisy, and smelly, were passed, leaving only confused memories. The tiny ship throbbed away from the heel of Italy out to the twilit sea, and as we slept in our stuffy cabins, somewhere in that tract of moon-polished water we passed the invisible dividing line and entered the bright, looking glass world of Greece.
ReplyDeleteIt had taken three husky peasant boys half an hour's sweating and panting to get Larry's trunks into the villa, while Larry bustled around them, directing operations. One of the trunks was so big it had to be hoisted in through the window. Once they were installed, Larry spent a happy day unpacking them, and the room was so full of books that it was almost impossible to get in or out. Having constructed battlements of books round the outer perimeter, Larry would spend the whole day in there with his typewriter, only emerging dreamily for meals.
ReplyDeleteYani, the shepherd, was driving his herd of goats out to graze. His brown face, with its great sweep of nicotine-stained moustache, wrinkled into a smile; a gnarled hand appeared from the heavy folds of his sheepskin cloak was raised in salute.
ReplyDelete"Chairete," he called in his deep voice, the beautiful Greek greeting, "chairete, kyrioi ... be happy."
The goats poured among the olives, uttering stammering cries to each other, the leader's bell clonking rhythmically. The chaffinches tinkled excitedly. A robin puffed out his chest like a tangerine among the myrtles and gave a trickle of song. The island was drenched with dew, radiant with early morning sun, full of stirring life. Be happy. How could one be anything else in such a season?