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Quotes from The Shipping News — Annie Proulx

born 1935 United States

← All quotes by Annie Proulx

18 quotes

All stemmed from Quoyle's chief failure, a failure of normal appearance.

The Shipping News (1993)

And three lucky stones strung on a wire to keep the house safe.

The Shipping News (1993)

The ocean twitched like a vast cloth spread over snakes.

The Shipping News (1993)

Dad, there's smoke coming out of the can and coming out of your mouth, too. How do you do that, daddy?

The Shipping News (1993)

Quoyle, you got any maritime connections?' 'My grandfather was a sealer.' 'Jesus. You always come out at me out of left field.

The Shipping News (1993)

Quoyle with regards to Petal, his wife, "There was a month of fiery happiness. Then six kinked years of suffering...In another time, in another sex, she would have been Genghis Khan.

The Shipping News (1993)

It was not until the next evening that he discovered he had a page from Leviticus stuck to his back.

The Shipping News (1993)

Quoyle, who spoke little himself, inspired talkers. His only skill in the game of life

The Shipping News (1993)

'Dad, are we scared?' said Sunshine. 'No, honey. It's an adventure.

The Shipping News (1993)

Quoyle large, white, stumbling along going nowhere

The Shipping News (1993)

He [Quoyle] did not want a boat, shied from the thought of water. Ashamed he could not swim, couldn't learn.

The Shipping News (1993)

Petal, like a persistent song phrase, like a few stubborn lines of verse memorized in childhood. The needle was stuck.

The Shipping News (1993)

which bloody misbegotten Card takes the liberty of recasting in his own insane tongue. As the bloody bog-rat's just done.

The Shipping News (1993)

We run a car wreck photo every week, whether we have a car wreck or not. That's our golden rule.

The Shipping News (1993)

the old place of the Quoyles, half ruined, isolated, the walls and doors of it pumiced by stony lives of dead generations. The aunt felt a hot pang. Nothing would drive them out a second time.

The Shipping News (1993)

Nutbeem influenced a little by the lunar cycle. Had a touch of werewolf. At full moon he burst, talked himself dry, took exercise in the form of dancing and fighting at the Starlight Lounge, then slowly fell back to contemplation.

The Shipping News (1993)

For the devil had long ago taken a shine to Tert Card, filled him like a cream horn with itch and irritation. His middle initial was X. Face like cottage cheese clawed with a fork.

The Shipping News (1993)

In a knot of eight crossings, which is about the average-size knot, there are 256 different 'over-and-under' arrangements possible... Make only one change in this 'over and under' sequence and either an entirely different knot is made or no knot at all may result.

The Shipping News (1993)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Annie Proulx (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.