Top 100 Towles Quotes
#1. in the ballroom of the Metropol Hotel on the twenty-first of June 1926, was the heretic, Galileo of Galilei, vindicated by a ping, a splat, a smash, a thunk, a thump, and a thud. Of
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#2. And this must be especially so, when those with newfound power are men who distrust any form of hesitation or nuance, and who prize self-assurance above all. For
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#3. Because the Bolsheviks, who were so intent upon recasting the future from a mold of their own making, would not rest until every last vestige of his Russia had been uprooted, shattered, or erased. Returning
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#4. In the doleful court behind my building a patchwork of windows was all that separated me from a hundred muted lives being led without mystery or menace or magic.
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#5. I'm willing to be under anything, she said, as long as it isn't somebody's thumb.
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#6. If a number's individual digits sum to a number that is divisible by three, then it too is divisible by three.
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#8. If patience wasn't so easily tested, then it would hardly be a virtue. . . . "Yes,
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#9. Long had he believed that a gentleman should turn to a mirror with a sense of distrust. For rather than being tools of self-discovery, mirrors tended to be tools of self-deceit.
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#10. As the sign over the cash register made clear, the three ways you could get your coffee at Chester's were sweetened, unsweetened, and somewhere else.
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#11. And as she talked, the Count had to acknowledge once again the virtues of withholding judgment.
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#12. For over two centuries (or so historians tell us), it was from the St. Petersburg salons that our country's culture advanced. From those great rooms overlooking the Fontanka Canal, new cuisines, fashions, and ideas all took their first tentative steps into Russian society.
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#13. ..the Zimmers sharpening their sarcasm. Over an early dinner, they chipped away at each other like little Michelangelos, placing every stroke of the mallet with care and devotion.
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#14. To be seduced? Why, that was a matter of leaning back in one's chair, sipping one's wine, and responding to a query with the very first thought that has popped into one's head. And
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#15. It was a sweet display of self-confidence, as he no longer felt the need to entertain me or to advertise his claim on my attentions. It goes to show that even a man who craves constant approval can attain self-assurance through a little hanky-panky.
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#16. For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.
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#17. For as it turns out, one can revisit the past quite pleasantly, as long as one does so expecting nearly every aspect of it to have changed.
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#18. Such is the magic of Christmas in childhood, thought the Count a little wistfully, that a single gift can provide one with endless hours of adventure while not even requiring one to leave one's house.
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#19. Yes, a ghost, thought the Count, as he moved silently down the hall. Like Hamlet's father roaming the ramparts of Elsinore after the midnight watch . . . Or like Akaky Akakievich, that forsaken spirit of Gogol's who in the wee hours haunted the Kalinkin Bridge in search of his stolen coat . . . Why
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#20. By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration, but our reconsideration - and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them
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#21. Silence can be a form of protest. It can be a means of survival. But it can also be a school of poetry - one with its own meter, tropes, and conventions. One that needn't be written with pencils or pens; but that can be written in the soul with a revolver to the chest." With
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#22. To what end, he wondered, had the Divine created the stars in heaven to fill a man with feelings of inspiration one day and insignificance the next?
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#23. She is no more than thirty pounds; no more than three feet tall; her entire bag of belongings could fit in a single drawer; she rarely peaks unless spoken to; and her heart beats no louder than a bird's. So how is it possible that she takes up so much space?!
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#24. If we only fell in love with people who were perfect for us ... then there wouldn't be so much fuss about love in the first place.
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#25. I knew too well the nature of life's distractions and enticements-how the piecemeal progress of our hopes and ambitions commands our undivided attention, reshaping the ethereal into the tangible, and commitments into compromises.
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#26. as we age, we are bound to find comfort from the notion that it takes generations for a way of life to fade.
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#27. A slouching posture tends to suggest a certain laziness of character as well as a lack of interest in others. Whereas an upright position can confirm a sense of self-possession and a quality of engagement.
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#28. - I probably shouldn't tell you this, I said.
- Kay-Kay, those are my six favorite words in the English language.
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#29. The only difference between everybody and nobody is all the shoes.
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#30. In a single week, there might be committees, caucuses, colloquium, congresses, and conventions variously coming together to establish codes, set courses of action, levy complaints, and generally clamor about the world's oldest problems in its newest nomenclature.
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#31. the best-bred dogs belong in the surest hands.
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#32. Invariably dressed in black, the Countess was one of those dowagers whose natural natural independence of mind, authority of age, and impatience with the petty made her the ally of all irreverent youth.
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#33. Before one travels abroad, it is best to have a simple, heartwarming soup from home, so that one can recall it fondly should one ever happen to feel a little
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#34. He looked like a man who had gained confidence through exposure to a hostile environment; like one who no longer owed anything to anyone.
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#35. Returning to his quarters, he opened the window (though it was only the size of a postage stamp),
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#36. the manner of Prince Tetrakov, was now touring the room, shaking
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#37. Having acknowledged that a man must master his circumstances or otherwise be mastered by them, the
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#38. If Broadway was a river running from the top of Manhattan down to the Battery, undulating with traffic and commerce and lights, then the east-west streets were eddies where, leaf-like, one could turn slow circles from the beginning to the ever shall be, world without end.
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#39. I suppose we don't rely on comparison enough to tell us whom it is that we are talking to. We give people the liberty of fashioning themselves in the moment-a span of time that is so much more manageable, stageable, controllable than is a lifetime.
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#40. But, Audrius, I have never taken the lift in my life!
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#41. he had decided after careful consideration to join a monastery and take an eternal vow of silence. Immediately. Without a moment's delay. Or, as soon as they'd had lunch. "Do
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#42. There is is again, that slight stinging sensation of the cheeks. It's our body's light speed response to the world showing us up. And it's one of life's most unpleasant feelings, leaving one to wonder what evolutionary purpose it could possible serve.
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#43. Knowing beauty, influence, fame, and privilege to be borrowed rather than bestowed, they are not easily impressed. They are not quick to envy or take offense.
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#45. In fact, if Paris had not been seated next to Helen when he dined in the court of Menelaus, there never would have been a Trojan War." A
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#46. ...the book had been written with winter nights in mind. Without a doubt, it was a book for when the birds had flown south, the wood was stacked by the fireplace, and the fields were white with snow; that is, for when one had no desire to venture out and one's friends had no desire to venture in.
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#47. Alas, Tis true that words are queer
And yet my son, you need not fear.
For in this volume can be seen
All English words and what they mean.
(about a Websters dictionary wrapped in a pink bow)
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#48. The Count took pride in wearing a well-tailored jacket; but he took greater pride in knowing that a gentleman's presence was best announced by his bearing, his remarks, and his manners. Not by the cut of his coat. Yes,
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#49. ...but the tenure of friendships has never been governed by the passage of time.
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#50. Sometimes," Nina clarified, "everybody tells you something because they are everybody. But why should one listen to everybody? Did everybody write the Odyssey? Did everybody write the Aeneid?" She
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#51. A king fortifies himself with a castle," observed the Count, "a gentleman with a desk." As
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#52. Little closer, as if I hadn't quite heard him. I leaned at an angle five degrees less acute than the waitress had. - What's that? - I was wondering if there's a melody in there. - It just went out for a smoke. It'll be back in a minute. But I take it that you don't
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#53. One must be prepared to fight for one's simple pleasures and to defend them against elegance and erudition and all manner of glamorous enticements.
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#54. Katey's the hottest bookworm you'll ever meet. If you took all the books that she's read and piled them in a stack, you could climb to the Milky Way.
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#55. Does a banquet really need an asparagus server?" "Does an orchestra need a bassoon?
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#56. That's how quickly New York City comes about - like a weather wane - or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.
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#57. Manners are not like bonbons, Nina. You may not choose the ones that suit you best; and you certainly cannot put the half-bitten ones back in the box. . . ." Nina
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#58. You can always tell a rich New York girl from a poor one. And you can tell a rich Boston girl from a poor one. After all, that's what accents and manners are there for. But to the native New Yorker, the midwestern girls all looked and sounded the same. Sure, the
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#59. From bells to cannons and back again, from now until the end of time. Such is the fate of iron ore.
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#60. For the next few minutes, there was a thorough rehashing of the courses (That meat was delicious. The sauce was perfect. And ooh that chocolate mousse.) This was a social nicety that seemed more prevalent the higher you climbed the social ladder and the less your hostess cooked.
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#61. I'm willing to be under anything...as long as it isn't somebody's thumb.
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#62. What was your favorite day of the year? The summer solstice. June twenty-first. The longest day of the year.
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#63. Here, indeed, was a formidable sentence--one that was on intimate terms with a comma, and that held the period in healthy disregard.
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#64. Charlotte Sykes approaching from the washrooms. She had changed into high heels and a tangerine-colored blouse that clashed with all her best intentions.
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#65. Suddenly - I shone in all my might, and morning rang its round. Always to shine, to shine everywhere, to the very depths of the last days, to shine - and to hell with everything else! That is my motto - and the sun's!
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#66. the only things that came from the practice were foolhardy acts, ill-advised liaisons, and gambling debts.
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#67. That's the problem with living in New York. You've got no New York to run away to.
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#68. By Diverse Means We Arrive at the Same End The
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#69. For however inhospitable the wind, from this vantage point Manhattan was simply so improbable, so wonderful, so obviously full of promise - that you wanted to approach it for the rest of your life without ever quite arriving.
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#70. Well, if getting to the bottom is what is called for, I am sure there is no man better for the job.
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#71. It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book.
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#72. True, it would not be a new venture for him. But need it be? Could one possibly accuse him of nostalgia or idleness, of wasting his time simply because he had read the story two or three times before?
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#73. Either way, he figured a cup of coffee would hit the spot. For what is more versatile? As at home in tin as it is in Limoges, coffee can energize the industrious at dawn, calm the reflective at noon, or raise the spirits of the beleagured in the middle of the night.
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#74. And what does he have to say to the impressionable young student at his side? That all poets must eventually bow before the haiku. Bow before the haiku! Can you imagine." "For my part," contributed the Count, "I am glad that Homer wasn't born in Japan." Mishka
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#76. It is a sad but unavoidable fact of life," he began, "that as we age our social circles grow smaller. Whether from increased habit or diminished vigor, we suddenly find ourselves in the company of just a few familiar faces.
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#77. Life is every bit as devious as Death. It too can wear a hooded coat. It too can slip into town, lurk in an alley, or wait in the back of a tavern.
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#78. 6th Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop. 7th
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#79. On those we love:
"Every year that passed, it seemed a little more of her had slipped away; and I began to fear that one day I would come to foget her altogether. But the truth is: No matter how much time passes, those we have loved never slip away from us entirely.
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#80. It seemed to give shape to the open air, or rather to reveal the hidden architecture that was there all along - the invisible cathedral that vaulted over the surface of the pond - known only to sparrows and dragonflies but invisible to the human eye.
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#81. Learning dance steps was the sorry Saturday night pursuit of every boardinghouse girl in America
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#82. But the objection being raised was not due to the phrase's overall lack of verve; rather it was due to the word facilitate. Specifically, the verb had been accused of being so tepid and prim that it failed to do justice to the labors of the men in the room.
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#83. sometimes everybody tells you something because it is true." "sometimes," nina clarified, "everybody tells you something because they are everybody...
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#84. An act of generosity rarely ends a man's responsibilities toward another; it tends instead to begin them.
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#85. Hollywood is the single most dangerous force in the history of class struggle." Or
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#86. So while dueling may have begun as a response to high crimes - to treachery, treason, and adultery - by 1900 it had tiptoed down the stairs of reason, until they were being fought over the tilt of a hat, the duration of a glance, or the placement of a comma. In
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#87. As a quick aside, let me observe that in moments of high emotion ... if the next thing you're going to say makes you feel better, then it's probably the wrong thing to say. This is one of the finer maxims that I've discovered in life. And you can have it, since it's been of no use to me.
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#88. She could have made a favourable impression on someone if she hadn't acted as though at any moment the city was going to step on her
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#89. For when life makes it impossible for a man to pursue his dreams, he will connive to pursue them anyway.
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#90. Be careful when choosing what you're proud of
because the world has every intention of using it against you.
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#91. But Fate would not have the reputation it has if it simply did what it seemed it would do.
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#92. If you could relive one year in your life, which one would it be? [ ... ] The upcoming one.
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#93. The designs of men are notoriously subservient to happenstance, hesitation, and haste; but
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#94. The principle here is that a new generation owes a measure of thanks to every member of the previous generation. Our
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#95. While the splendors that elude us in youth are likely to receive our casual contempt in adolescence and our measured consideration in adulthood, they forever hold us in their thrall.
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#96. For pomp is a tenacious force. And a wily one too. How
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#97. If only someone had told me about the confidence-boosting nature of guns, I'd have been shooting them all my life.
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#98. For if a room that exists under the governance, authority, and intent of others seems smaller than it is, then a room that exists in secret can, regardless of its dimensions, seem as vast as one cares to imagine. Rising
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#99. Most New Yorkers spent their lives somewhere between the fruit cart and the fifth floor. To see the city from a few hundred feet above the riffraff was pretty celestial. We gave the moment its due.
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#100. - Did Eve know? About you and Anne, I mean.
He shook his head wanly. The very definition of wanly. The apotheosis of wanly.
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