144 Quotes by Elizabeth Kostova

He was simply gone, and he took all our peace with him.

Obey and hate yourself, survive. Disobey, redeem yourself, perish. I thought later how simply and quickly they had introduced that concept to me, as easily as breaking a little finger. For some reason they had decided not to beat me.

I knew people who dreamed all the time about going somewhere else, and they let that ruin their lives. When you are not allowed to do something, it often becomes very important.

I wondered if a novel could have the power to make something so strange happen in actuality.

This time I felt my own face redden. Talking with this woman was like sitting still for a series of slaps, delivered arhythmically so you couldn’t know when the next one was coming.

The study of history should be our preparation for understanding the present, rather than an escape from it.

Not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it.

I like a puzzle, as you know. So does every scholar worth his salt. It’s the reward of the business, to look history in the eye and say, ‘I know who you are. You can’t fool me’.

Didn’t Catholicism deal with blood and resurrected flesh on a daily basis? Wasn’t it expert in superstition?