#secret

He could hardly imagine anymore what his life would be without the weight of his hidden knowledge. He'd come to think of it as a kind of penance. It was self-destructive, he could see that, but that was the way things were. People smoked, they jumped out of airplanes, they drank too much and got into their cars and drove without seat belts. ↗

— Kim Edwards

#self-destructive #imagination

Many more villagers, who have seen an elephant for the first time in their lives, give absurd exaggerations regarding his size, weight, and height. One of them describes him as ‘a fundament!’. Another, elaborating, alludes to the term ‘firmament,’ because of the elephant’s hugeness. He felt as though the sky was obliterated from his vision. The last to be interviewed by the local TV station swears that he sensed the world lean forward as the elephant came closer and tilt backwards as the beast walked away. This large mammal ambles purposefully. He pays no heed to the crowded silence following him in stealthy consciousness. One of the villagers, a woman often suspected of dabbling in witchcraft, talks of her inspired theory: that this was no elephant, more like a human on a holy mission of avenging justice. Two other witnesses, neither having had any contact with the woman, speak in substantiation of the woman’s claims, giving as evidence the observation that the elephant turned around when someone said something in Somali. Several villagers will not comment, afraid of a fitting retribution should they do so. ↗

— Nuruddin Farah

#secrets #inspirational

I'm not of the American ilk that, you know, your lover needs to be your best friend and know you inside out. I think he should know you well enough to please you. Otherwise, what secret will there be to tell him when you're ninety? ↗

— Padma Lakshmi

#best #best friend #enough #friend #him

There's one secret to hitting hard, and that is to completely dedicate your body. That's the difference between a man going forward and a man going backward, no matter how big he is. ↗

— Ray Lewis

#between #big #body #completely #dedicate

Ooh, it's too embarrassing to share my innermost romantic secrets - although I have written Danielle the odd poem. If anything they are more comedic than romantic. They used to be well-received but that was before she started studying Shakespeare at drama college. Now I feel so inept. ↗

— Gary Lineker

#anything #before #college #comedic #drama

The law courts must appear as a threatening gesture toward secret vice. The bank must declare: here your money is secure and well looked after by honest people. ↗

— Adolf Loos

#appear #bank #courts #declare #gesture

We writers, as we work our way deeper into our craft, learn to drop more and more personal clues. Like burglars who secretly wish to be caught, we leave our fingerprints on broken locks, our voiceprints in bugged rooms, our footprints in the wet concrete. ↗

— Ross MacDonald

#bugged #burglars #caught #clues #concrete

Even a secret agent can't lie to a Jewish mother. ↗

— Peter Malkin

#even #jewish #lie #mother #secret

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. ↗

— Christopher Morley

#answers #every #heart #man #nerve

We can no longer stand for the Security Council passing resolutions and then in effect heaving alongside and taking a vacation. We cannot leave it to the secretary general to go cap in hand. ↗

— Alex Morrison

#cannot #cap #council #effect #general