Them Quotes (page 374)
A mountain is a strange and awful thing. In old times, without knowingso much of their strangeness and awfulness as we do, people were yetmore afraid of mountains. But then somehow they had not come to seehow beautiful they are as well as awful, and they hated them--and whatpeople hate they must fear. Now that we have learned to look at themwith admiration, perhaps we do not feel quite awe enough of them. Tome they are beautiful terrors.
George MacDonald
The universe was a disorderly mess, the only interesting bits being the organised anomalies. Hackworth had once taken his family out rowing on the pond in the park, and the ends of the yellow oars spun off compact vortices, and Fiona, who had taught herself the physics of liquids through numerous experimental beverage spills and in the bathtub, demanded an explanation for these holes in water. She leaned over the gunwale, Gwendolyn holding the sash of her dress, and felt those vortices with...
Neal Stephenson
When I had that idea about the gaslights in the street, I glanced at the sky. It was very dark, but I could make out torn clouds and bottomless black gaps between them. Suddenly I noticed a little star in one of those gaps. I looked at it intently. That star reminded me that I wanted to kill myself. I decided I would go through with it that very night.
Fyodor Dostoevsky