263 Quotes by Mark Helprin

The way she looked at him, and he knew it, it was clear that she was seeking someone she could love, someone who would love her as if she were once again a girl and the world was young. There was no question that he was capable of such a thing. She could see it in his face and read it in his every expression.

The arts community is generally dominated by liberals because if you are concerned mainly with painting or sculpture, you don’t have time to study how the world works. And if you have no understanding of economics, strategy, history and politics, then naturally you would be a liberal.

One shouldn’t ever do anything to protect one’s dignity. You either have it or you don’t.

I’m sort of murdered for selling books. The idea is, if you make money your work can’t be literary.

I want nothing more than what I have, for what I have is enough. I’m grateful for it. I foresee no reward, no eternal life. I expect only to leave further pieces of my heart in one place or another, but I love God nonetheless, with every atom of my being, and will love Him until I fall into black oblivion.

I’ve imagined great victories, and I’ve imagined great races. The races are better.

When soldiers go home, their first desire, whether they know it or not, is to have children, children being the only antidote for war.

I wish that, like you, I could have spent my life transported aloft, as it were, every day, in music. Instead, I’ve lived like a caffeinated parrot.

And they’ll vote for me because I’m the best liar, because I do it honestly, with a certain finesse. They know that lies and truth are very close, and that something beautiful rests between.