The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare quotes

Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal.

— Syme · XIV. THE SIX PHILOSOPHERS

Why does each thing on the earth war against each other thing? Why does each small thing in the world have to fight against the world itself?

— Spoken by a character · XV. THE ACCUSER

It may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one.

always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?

— Syme · IX. THE MAN IN SPECTACLES

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

— Spoken by a character · IV. THE TALE OF A DETECTIVE

“I am more than a devil; I am a man. I can do the one thing which Satan himself cannot do—I can die,” and as the word went through his head, he heard a faint and far-off hoot, which would soon be the roar of the Paris train.

— Spoken by a character · X. THE DUEL

“Because I am afraid of him,” said Syme; “and no man should leave in the universe anything of which he is afraid.”

— Syme · VIII. THE PROFESSOR EXPLAINS

Yes, the most poetical thing, more poetical than the flowers, more poetical than the stars—the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.

— Spoken by a character · I. THE TWO POETS OF SAFFRON PARK

Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.

— Bull · XIV. THE SIX PHILOSOPHERS

That young man with the long, auburn hair and the impudent face—that young man was not really a poet; but surely he was a poem.

But even the moon is only poetical because there is a man in the moon.