Best quotes from The Moving Finger

There is too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will. I must concede you the Devil. God doesn't really need to punish us, Miss Barton. We're so busy punishing ourselves.

Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.

I never can stand seeing people pleased with themselves, said Joanna. It arouses all my worst instincts.

- إن الكسل هو الخطيئة التي لا تغتفر
- لقد طرد السير إدوارد غري - الذي أصبح فيما بعد وزيرًا للخارجية - من جامعة أكسفورد بسبب كسله الذي لا سبيل لإصلاحه.
وسمعت أن دوق ويلنغتن كان غبيًا ومهملًا لواجباته الدراسية.
ثم ألم يخطر ببالك أنك ربما لم تكوني قادرة
على استقلال قطار سريع إلى لندن لو أن جورج ستيفنسن كان قدر خرج في نشاط شبابي بدل أن يتسكع سئٍمًا في مطبخ والدته حتى استرعى انتباهه الكسول الطريقة الغريبة التي يعلو ويهبط فيها غطاء
الإبريق على النار ، فكان ذلك بداية ابتكار القطار ؟
اكتفت إيمي بأن زفرت بتأفف، فيما قلت وأنا أتحمس لموضوعي:
إن لدي نظرية تقول إننا ندين بمعظم اختراعاتنا العظيمة ومعظم الإنجازات العبقرية إلى الكسل... الإجباري منه والطوعي.
إن العقل البشري يفضل أن يتغذى على أفكار الآخرين، ولكنه عندما يُحرم من هذا الغذاء فإنه سيبدأ كارهًا في التفكير لذاته... وتذكري إن مثل هذا التفكير هو تفكير إبداعي وقد يؤدي إلى نتائج قيمة .
... وفوق ذلك فهناك الجانب الفني .
نهضتُ وأخذت من مكتبي صورة كانت تلازمني دائمًأ لمنظر صيني مفضل عندي. كانت تمثل رجلًا عجوزًا يجلس تحت شجرة ويسلي نفسه بتلك اللعبة القديمة التي يشبك الأطفال فيها خيوطًا بين أصابعهم
حتى يؤلفوا منها شكلًا هندسيًا. أحضرت الصورة وقلتُ لها: كانت في المعرض الصيني، وقد سحرتني، اسمحي لي أن أريك إياها. إنها تدعى " رجل عجوز يستمتع بمتعة الكسل

... Good gracious, Jerry, you'll probably have to marry the girl.'
Joanna was half serious, half laughing.
It was at that moment that I made a very important discovery.
'Damn it all,' I said. 'I don't mind if I do. In fact - I should like it.'
A very funny expression came over Joanna's face. She got up and said dryly, as she went toward the door, 'Yes, I've known that for some time...'
She left me standing, glass in hand, aghast at my new discovery.

Where do one's fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open?

Yes, it was dangerous, but we are not put into this world, Mr. Burton, to avoid danger when an important fellow creature's life is at stake. You understand me?

Kebencian bisa membuat orang jadi buta-- ya jadi buta. Tapi orang buta pun mungkin bisa menikam tepat di jantung.

Aku benci melihat orang yang merasa puas diri. Hal itu membangkitkan semua naluri jahatku.

Sesuatu yang baik tak pernah terlalu banyak, ketahuilah itu.

A man travels fastest who travels alone.

Things never burn when you want them to, they got out. You'd probably have had to strike match after match.

The trouble is, that this sort of things once it starts, grows.

What's wrong with Shakespeare?" I{Jerry} inquired in interest.
" Twisting himself up to say things in such a difficult way that you can't get at what he means. Still, I like some Shakespeare.

It was a cheap school, you know, and the teachers weren't very good. They could never answer questions properly."
"Very few teachers can," I{Jerry}said.
"Why not? They ought to."
I agreed.

How strange that a girl could trouble your inmost soul so long as she kept her mouth shut, and that the moment she spoke the glamour could vanish as though it had never been.

Only mothers can’t say they don’t want their children and just go away.

In everybody's life there are hidden chapters which they hope may never be known.

From all I have heard, geniuses are people to be heartily disliked.

The police, they're seemingly so frank, and they tell you nothing.

I don't know what the usual reactions are of a man who goes to propose marriage.
In fiction his throat is dry and his collar feels too tight and he is in a pitiable state of nervousness.

You mean you really want to marry me?" she asked with the air of one getting a thing perfectly clear.
"More than anything in the world," I said - and I meant it.
"You mean, you're in love with me?"
"I'm in love with you."
Her eyes were steady and grave. She said:
"I think you're the nicest person in the world - but I'm not in love with you." "I'll make you love me."
"That wouldn't do. I don't want to be made.

You may say that I had gone to ask Megan to marry me in an absurdly complacent frame of mind and that I deserved what I got - but it was not really like that. It was because I felt so assured, so certain, that Megan belonged to me - that she was my business, that to look after her and make her happy and keep her from harm was the only natural right way of life for me, that I had expected her to feel, too - that she and I belonged to each other.
But I was not giving up. Oh, no! Megan was my woman and I was going to have her.

There are questions that you don't ask because you're afraid of the answers to them.