Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter
9 quotes
"Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away."
"One forgets the dead quite quickly; one doesn't wonder about the dead-what is he doing now, who is he with?"
"Friendship is something in the soul. It is a thing one feels. It is not a return for something."
"Beauty is like success: we can't love it for long."
"In my school, he thought, they learn bitterness and frustration and how to grow old."
"He couldn't tell that this was one of those occasions a man never forgets: a small cicatrice had been made on the memory, a wound that would ache whenever certain things combined - the taste of gin at mid-day, the smell of flowers under a balcony, the clang of corrugated iron, an ugly bird flopping from perch to perch."
"The truth, he thought, has never been of any real value to any human being- it is a symbol for mathematicians and philosophers to pursue. I human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths."
"I don't believe anyone who says love, love, love. It means self, self, self."
"Except for the sound of the rain, on the road, on the roofs, on the umbrella, there was absolute silence: only the dying moan of the sirens continued for a moment or two to vibrate within the ear. It seemed to Scobie later that this was the ultimate border he had reached in happiness: being in darkness, alone, with the rain falling, without love or pity."