some terrific excerpts from selected novels

Don't have much motivation to write at present so idling time by quoting from some novels:

Man has been endowed with words to disguise his thoughts-Jose Saramago

Freedom is the illusion of being free
Happiness is the illusion of being happy-Jose Saramago


Life does not have a neat beginning and a tidy end.You should begin in the middle and end in the middle, and it should all be there- Half A Life-- Naipaul

Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination."---- Moon and six pences- Maugham

Only the poet or the saint can water an asphalt pavement in the confident anticipation that lilies will reward his labour--- Moon and six pences- Maugham

It is like the sadness which you may see in the jester's eyes when a merry company is laughing at his sallies; his lips smile and his jokes are gayer because in the communion of laughter he finds himself more intolerably alone--- Moon and six pences- Maugham

Throughout Life our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise---- Great Expectations-Dickens