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Dora sat on a corner of the spread rug, longing to be assigned some task so she could resent it.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
by Shirley Hazzard
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Dora found herself in a state of dissatisfaction while sitting on a corner of a rug, wishing for a task to occupy her time. This desire for a responsibility reflects her inner conflict, as she craved engagement but would likely end up resenting the task assigned to her. It highlights a complex relationship with duty and the emotions it evokes in her.

This moment encapsulates Dora's yearning for purpose alongside her inclination toward frustration, indicating a deeper struggle with her role in life. The tension between wanting to be active and simultaneously rejecting the burdens that come with responsibility captures her character's ambivalence and sets the tone for her journey in "The Transit of Venus."

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The Transit of Venus
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Shirley Hazzard
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Other quotes in The Transit of Venus

That alas is the way it goes; Something we must rectify. Paul, not Caro, would interpret the degree of meaning in their respective lots. That had been decided, as he sat speaking intimately of his life to the person most excluded from it - in order to readmit her to the intimacy, though not the life.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
That alas is the way it goes; Something we must rectify. Paul, not Caro, would interpret the degree of meaning in their respective lots. That had been decided, as he sat speaking intimately of his life to the person most excluded from it - in order to readmit her to the intimacy, though not the life.
She was coming to look on men and women as fellow survivors; well-dissemblers of their woes, who, with few signals of grief, had contained, assimilated, or just put to use their own destruction. Of those who had endured the worst, not all behaved nobly or consistently. But all, involuntarily, became part of a deeper assertion to life. Though the dissolution of love created no heroes, the process itself required some heroism. There was the risk that endurance might appear enough of an achievement. That risk had come up before.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
She was coming to look on men and women as fellow survivors; well-dissemblers of their woes, who, with few signals of grief, had contained, assimilated, or just put to use their own destruction. Of those who had endured the worst, not all behaved nobly or consistently. But all, involuntarily, became part of a deeper assertion to life. Though the dissolution of love created no heroes, the process itself required some heroism. There was the risk that endurance might appear enough of an achievement. That risk had come up before.
Caro sat without speaking, turning toward him her look that was neither sullen nor expectant but soberly attentive; and, once, a glance in which tenderness and apprehension were great and indivisible, giving unbearable, excessive immediacy to the living of these moments. Paul had seen that look before, when they first lay down together at the inn beyond Avebury Circle.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
Caro sat without speaking, turning toward him her look that was neither sullen nor expectant but soberly attentive; and, once, a glance in which tenderness and apprehension were great and indivisible, giving unbearable, excessive immediacy to the living of these moments. Paul had seen that look before, when they first lay down together at the inn beyond Avebury Circle.
Did you love Paul Ivory?""Yes.""I suppose it ended badly.""Yes.""You must have been very unhappy.""I died, and Adam resurrected me.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
Did you love Paul Ivory?""Yes.""I suppose it ended badly.""Yes.""You must have been very unhappy.""I died, and Adam resurrected me.
I have never suffered greatly ... If you can reach fifty without a catastrophe, you've won. You've got away with it.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
I have never suffered greatly ... If you can reach fifty without a catastrophe, you've won. You've got away with it.
I wasn't convinced a shop girl would know the word 'Oedipal.
Shirley Hazzard The Transit of Venus
I wasn't convinced a shop girl would know the word 'Oedipal.
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I think I couldn't love him at all if he was the sort of man to make me choose between him and my writing. And
He believed that "a day will come when the sexual relations will be regulated in every case by the private will of the parties. The public sentiment, then, or law, … will declare the entire freedom of every man or woman to follow the bent of their private affections, will justify every alliance sanctioned by these affections."
Louis Menand The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
He believed that "a day will come when the sexual relations will be regulated in every case by the private will of the parties. The public sentiment, then, or law, … will declare the entire freedom of every man or woman to follow the bent of their private affections, will justify every alliance sanctioned by these affections."
If a huge genetic gap separated us from our closest relative in the animal kingdom, we could justifiably celebrate our brilliance. We might be entitled to walk around thinking we're distant and distinct from our fellow creatures. But no such gap exists. Instead, we are one with the rest of nature, fitting neither above nor below, but within.
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If a huge genetic gap separated us from our closest relative in the animal kingdom, we could justifiably celebrate our brilliance. We might be entitled to walk around thinking we're distant and distinct from our fellow creatures. But no such gap exists. Instead, we are one with the rest of nature, fitting neither above nor below, but within.
"The real shit {that was Mo’s mantra} is pigeons, not their shit. Divorce is when you take away what you no longer need from those you no longer love."
Zadie Smith White Teeth
"The real shit {that was Mo’s mantra} is pigeons, not their shit. Divorce is when you take away what you no longer need from those you no longer love."
They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows. Danny Hislop's bright teeth flashed in his hairless, unremarkable face. 'If they were afraid, they'd tear him to pieces like schoolgirls. My guess is that he's gorgeous. A terrible tease and nasty at moments, but oh Maeve, he has such a way with him.… Is he gorgeous, dear Adam?' Adam Blacklock, thus addressed, said quietly, 'Undoubtedly gorgeous.
Dorothy Dunnett The Ringed Castle
They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows. Danny Hislop's bright teeth flashed in his hairless, unremarkable face. 'If they were afraid, they'd tear him to pieces like schoolgirls. My guess is that he's gorgeous. A terrible tease and nasty at moments, but oh Maeve, he has such a way with him.… Is he gorgeous, dear Adam?' Adam Blacklock, thus addressed, said quietly, 'Undoubtedly gorgeous.
Henry of England had all the virtues and all the faults, and solved the contradiction by making scapegoats and sin-eaters of half his entourage.
Dorothy Dunnett The Game of Kings
Henry of England had all the virtues and all the faults, and solved the contradiction by making scapegoats and sin-eaters of half his entourage.
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