There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror.
“
| — | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet |
My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words, and the earnest way in which I uttered them. I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty.
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| — | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet |
I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilled workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forgot something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
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| — | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet |
I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
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| — | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet |
Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?…If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!
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| — | J.R.R. Tolkien. (via owlssayhooot) |
There is always something ridiculous about the emotion of people whom one has ceased to love.
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| — | Oscar Wilde, the New Shelton wet/dry (via nevver) |
Good morning, FridayReaders! If you share what you’re reading today with us by answering the question at the bottom of this post and reblogging, you could win a copy of The First Husband by Laura Dave! Check out Laura Dave’s website for blurbs and more about the novel.
So, what are you reading?
Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
‘Only a novel’… in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.
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| — | Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (via bookoasis) |
“No!” Mrs Weasley cried, as a few students ran forwards, trying to come to her aid. “Get back! Get back! She is mine!”
“What will happen to your children when I’ve killed you?” taunted Bellatrix, as mad as her master, capering as Molly’s curses danced around her. “When Mummy’s gone the same way as Freddie?”
”You-will-never-touch-our-children-again!” screamed Mrs Weasley.
