Briony's Quotes

#1. Briony's ladies-in-waiting kept their distance, as though their mistress had some illness which might spread - and indeed she did, Briony thought, because unhappiness was ambitious.

Tad Williams

#2. Self-pity needed her full attention, and only in solitude could she breathe life into the lacerating details, but at the instant of her assent - how the tilt of a skull could change a life! - Lola had picked up the bundle of Briony's manuscript from

Ian McEwan

#3. He scooped up my arm, swung me round. "Let go, Cecil," I said. "I've a strange dislike of being forced." "But Briony," he said, "I'm so full of good spirits. I could walk to London, I think!" Why didn't he?

Franny Billingsley

#4. You see, that is the secret of history, little Briony - who tells the last story.

Tad Williams

#5. You've all been so sure that life is good that I've never been able to disbelieve it. Never will be able to.

L.M. Montgomery

#6. Sometimes we forget about common sense. Autism is used too much as an excuse for bad behavior.

Temple Grandin

#7. There is the glamour side of it, which allows you to meet great variety of people with whom you simply can have a good time, but there's also the sad side of it that drags you into a superficial and artificial world.

Karolina Kurkova

#8. [about a book lent by a crush]
Last night I read into the wee small hours. Fell asleep with my face in the book, my nose pressed up against the print. Could smell Sean on the pages, the lingering odours from his sportsbag. Man scent, liniment, damp earth.

Bob Condron

#9. If I hadn't left South Africa, I felt I was at risk of being pigeonholed. I looked around and saw actors who, 10 to 15 years into their careers, were still playing stereotypical Afrikaans characters, stereotyped Indian characters. That was not something that I wanted for myself.

Adhir Kalyan

#10. And of course I'm a chauvinist, but it isn't my fault."
"It isn't?"
"No, Jack was born first and I share his genes. I can't help it if he infected me inside the womb."
Briony burst out laughing. "I should have known that would be your excuse.

Christine Feehan

#11. POPPY (on high school cliques): I wasn't smart enough for the gifted kids or athletic enough for the jocks. I didn't want to s*ck a lot of c*ck, so I couldn't be a cheerleader or popular girl.

Bijou Hunter

#12. Briony began to understand the chasm that lay between an idea and its execution

Ian McEwan

#13. Briony scared?" said Eldric. "I've never seen anyone less scared in my life. She has nerves of iron.

Franny Billingsley

#14. She was like a bride-to-be who begins to feel her sickening qualms as the day approaches, and dares not speak her mind because so many preparations have been made on her behalf the happiness and convenience of so many good people would be put at risk.

Ian McEwan

#15. She wanted parties and hunts and young men swooning after her.

Maggie L. Wood

#16. Was Briony the only person who could hear the venom dripping from the woman's tongue? What good was beauty - a mature beauty, but beauty nonetheless - if it cloaked such a viperous soul?

Tad Williams

#17. People have fought in vain about the names and lives of their saviors, and have named their religions after the name of their savior, instead of uniting with each other in the truth that is taught.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

#18. He glanced at her. "You were the moon of my existence; your moods dictated the tides of my heart."
The tides of her own heart surged at his words, even though his words were nothing but lies.

Sherry Thomas

#19. Satyagraha is a process of educating public opinion, such that it covers all the elements of the society and in the end makes itself irresistible.

Mahatma Gandhi

#20. I absolutely love you, Briony, and I am on my knees. So we're getting married - right? But say it fast before we get shot.
Only Jack would ask - if you could call it asking - in the middle of a battlefield, with a man lying dead at his feet.

Christine Feehan

#21. I started off with making personal donations and eventually set up my own foundation, VTCY Foundation, now known as Better Malaysia Foundation. My contributions are also made through companies that I own.

Vincent Tan

#22. Briony said reasonably, 'How can you hate plays?'
'It's just showing off.' Pierrot shrugged as he delivered this self-evident truth.

Ian McEwan

#23. She knew enough to recognize that memories were crowding in, and there was nothing he could do. They wouldn't let him speak. She would never know what scenes were driving that turmoil.

Ian McEwan

#24. Things change, Briony. You can't stop them, and you'll drive yourself crazy if you try.

Kailin Gow