The Sudden Appearance of Hope Quotes

“The internet gave us all the power of speech, and what did we discover? That victory goes to he who shouts the loudest, and that reason does not sell.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“When you are alone, even the quiet is full of monsters”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“It's just money," he replied. "It's just paper."
"It's time," I said, sharper than I'd meant. "It's the means to purchase time. It's the cost of a new bed in a hospital, a solar panel on a roof; it's a year's salary for a tailor in Dhaka, it's the price of a fishing boat, the cost of an education, it's not money. It's what it could have been.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“You know why the experts don't have an easy answer? Because a fucking expert's the guy who knows how complicated the fucking questions are.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“People are just people, doing people things. Sometimes they're stupid, and sometimes they're desperate, and a lot of the time it's just bad luck. Don't get your knickers in a twist over people.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“The press, the media, the internet—they'll make the noise, make the screaming, the screaming all the time, and the truth and my voice will be lost. The blaming and the noise, human things, they'll make it about human things, not the truth. How can anyone live with it? How can anyone live with so much screaming in their lives, all the time?”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“I am frightened now. I am frightened that when he fades from my memory, a piece of me will die too. The feelings, the things I have learned, the ideas I have had today, so many ideas, so many feelings, they will die with my memory. I fear that loss. But more, a terror that I must share with my future self. I fear what this means for me. If you forget the joy of this day, then what joy you give to others will also be forgotten, and your life has no consequence, no meaning, no worth. I am a shadow, blasted away by the sun, a meaningless occlusion of light that fades with the day.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Every human grief you will ever experience has been experienced by humans living and humans yet to come. There is no readiness for it, nor no easing of the pain, but ma’am, for what it’s worth, I think you should know that all of humanity that was, is and will be is with you now, by your side.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“What is knowledge?
It is inspiration. It is a call to battle. It is a reminder that there is nothing which cannot be achieved. It is humanity in all its forms, in my heart.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“And are we not worthy?” she asked, rolling the end of one ceramic chopstick back and forth between the thumb and index finger of her right hand. “Are our lives devoid of merit? Are we not generous to our friends, kind to strangers, skilled in our areas of expertise, reliable with rent, gentle with children, quick to phone an ambulance when we see a man hit by a car, thoughtful in word and deed? Do we not have worth enough? Are we not already perfect? Perfectly ourselves? Perfect in being who we are?” “I have no one to measure that quality against.” “Do you believe in God?” “No.” “Do you have eyes, judgement?” “And I see the world, but I have no one else’s eyes to measure my own vision against.” “Of course you do. You have the words of friends and strangers. You have discourse and reason. You have critical thought, which may be trained to the highest degree. In short, you do not need the world to tell you what to be. Especially if the world tells you that you are never good enough.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“I find that the only way I can survive is in the present tense. If I look at my past, I see loneliness. Loneliness and… and mistakes made of loneliness. If I look at my future, I see fear. Struggle. The possibility of much pain. And so I look only at now, at this present tense, and ask myself, what am I doing now? Who am I now?”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“He who is silent is seen to consent.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“After a night of drinking, she would be a pale, starling-sized creature, but now, in this place, she is moonlight in heels.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Hqve you never heard of priests proclaim that the meek will inherit the earth and wondered if kings of old didn't smile to hear it? Your reward comes after death. Nirvana. The wheel of life turns and we are elevated from animals to women, from women to men, from men to kings, from kings to gods, from gods to... perfection. And what is perfection now? Not crucifixion, not poverty endured patiently on the mountaintop. No--the perfect life is to have an annual salary of £120,000, an Aston Martin, a £1.6million-pound home, a wife, two children and at least two foreign holidays a year. Perfection is an idol built upon oppression. Perfection is the heaven that kept the masses suppressed; the promise of a future life that quells rebellion. Perfection is the self-hatred an overweight woman feels when she sees a slim model on TV; perfection is the resentment the well-paid man experiences when he beholds a miserable billionaire. Perfection kills. Perfection destroys the soul.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“They are . . .
in their own, unspectacular way, to which no ballads are written or songs sung, in a domestic, daily, life-being-lived way,
. . . happy”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“I just want to be myself,' she murmured.

'But is that good enough?' Leena mused, 'Or is it just selfish?”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“I locked my smile in the attack position,”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Tell me, in a world where wealth is power, and power is the only freedom, what would desperate men not do to be heard?” “Civil”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Wow, that is so deep.'
He meant it, of course.
'You're really real,' he added breathily. 'Say something else.'
I decided he wasn't worth punching, and walked away.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“They can respond to any situation with a two-dollar retort from a self-help book at a pinch. Is your father dead? He’s gone to a better place. Have you lost your job? Stay strong – if you believe in yourself, you’ll find a way. Husband left you, taking the kids? You can fight this one, and with the strength you have inside and the love of your children, you can win. The world is boiled down to aphorisms and fairytales. I”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Truth: sometimes a murderer cannot be found. Truth: sometimes your children are taken and you are left behind. Truth: poverty is a prison. Truth: disease and age come to us all.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“No one’s really racist any more, just as no one’s really sexist. They’ve just got their view about things, you see.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“In 1789 the French rebelled and found an emperor. The Americans found their freedom from the British and enslaved the Africans. The Arab Spring bloomed and the military and the jihadists seized power. The internet gave us all the power of speech, and what did we discover? That victory goes to he who shouts the loudest, and that reason does not sell.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“...the only way to be free from the fear of surveillance is to be absolutely harmless”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“We live in a land of freedom, and the only freedoms we can choose are to spend, fuck and eat. The rest is taboo. Loner. Slut. Weirdo. Faggot. Whore. Bitch. Druggie. Scrounger. Ugly. Poor. Muslim. Other.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“The world is boiled down to aphorisms and fairy tales.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“The rituals you make, the devotions you perform, they are what binds you to yourself. If you do not have them, if you have not found them within you, you are nothing, and the desert is all. I’m”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Perfect people always have a solution to a problem, you see. But what do you do when words fail? Truth: sometimes a murderer cannot be found. Truth: sometimes your children are taken and you are left behind. Truth: poverty is a prison. Truth: disease and age come to us all. These are so terrifying, we program them out of the human brain.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope

“Marcus Aurelius, AD 121-180, author of Meditations. Quoth said emperor: It is not death a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. And also: You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.”
― Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope