"In a whisper he began begging for—and, as the sun set, received—the concession people always beg for: a little more time."

Zadie Smith Literature See all quotes by Zadie Smith →

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“But why do they always have to be laughing and making a song-and-dance about everything? I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.”

“It was in the shady groves of dictionaries that Jack fell in love.”

“He talked and talked, the kind of talking you do to stave off the inevitable physical desire. The kind of talk that only increases it.”

“So we have to be a bit more, I mean, military about it, like plan.”

“Is there anything more likely to take the shine off an affair that when the lover strikes up a convivial relationship with the lovee's mother.”

“This is what divorce is: Taking things you no longer want from people you no longer love.”

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"Today Chile is a country subjected by its Armed Forces to a regime similar to those that appeared in fascist occupied Europe. The country is under state of siege, all the cities under curfews, there a…"

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"The effectiveness of any model used to describe and understand behavior of a particular system as a whole ultimately depends on the degree to which that model accurately represents that system. Nevert…"

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Science1919–2009

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"To-day the United States stands out as the mightiest Power on earth, and yet America is a threat to no one. All know that she will never use her power for selfish aims or territorial aggrandisement in…"

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Politics1883–1967

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"Space is an illusion, and time as well. There is no such factor as either time or space. We have been blinded by our own cleverness, blinded by false perceptions of those qualities that we term eterni…"

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