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Quotes from Midwinter Break — Bernard MacLaverty

born 1942 Ireland

← All quotes by Bernard MacLaverty

14 quotes

"There's nobody can fix this but yourself. You are the only one who can make the changes."

Midwinter Break (2017)

When she emptied the kettle she always filled it for the benefit of the next person.

Midwinter Break (2017)

Since Belfast, he always sat in a chair facing the door.

Midwinter Break (2017)

"What happened to you? You're nothing but appetite."

Midwinter Break (2017)

"Believers. I mean, where have they all gone?"

Midwinter Break (2017)

"Alcohol is the rubber tyres between me and the pier." He held up his glass to her. They chinked.

Midwinter Break (2017)

"It's all going far too well," said Gerry. "A bad omen."

Midwinter Break (2017)

He wanted to pray but couldn't because he no longer believed. Prayer was just an intense wishing.

Midwinter Break (2017)

She found a large and classy department store. Like any other city, Amsterdam was full of shops which sold things that nobody wanted. Or the kind of things some people wanted but nobody needed.

Midwinter Break (2017)

You know how vivid things are in extremis. There's something going on in the brain. Chemicals. They make the moment indelible."

Midwinter Break (2017)

When they finally got into the foyer there were some enlarged black and white photographs. Anne in her school playground before the war. Anne in the street with friends. Anne at a desk, writing.

Midwinter Break (2017)

Look, see, behold. Above all, listen.

Midwinter Break (2017)

A thing that really took his breath away was Norman Foster's roof over the Great Court at the British Museum - the audacity and brilliance of it. The approach inside the building from a periphery of darkness into the thrilling light at its centre - the largest covered square in Europe - was utterly wonderful.

Midwinter Break (2017)

The coffee was good and the first sip made him want a cigarette. His hand went to his pocket before he realised it was decades since he'd had a smoke. The desire came out of nowhere. He thought how foolish, how stuck in routine the body becomes. Would the same thing happen if he tried to give up drinking?

Midwinter Break (2017)

Attribution

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