Donovan Bayley

Biographical details

Donovan Bayley published works such as The Thrill Book. These writings evoke Panton, clothes and subliminal self.

Quotes by Donovan Bayley

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ Standing halfway up the stairs, looking meditatively at him, very gravely, was a perfectly naked man, who, though he had never seen him before, seemed inexplicably familiar to him. He sat staring at him, his hands palm down on the tiles, the candle on his lap, unable to say anything, so much did he wonder.
The other man, however, had evidently no such disability, for he spoke serenely, his eye on Mr. Panton.
“What an odd creature!” he said. “I wonder why he was chosen for me?”
“You!” said Panton. “You! Who are you?” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ Panton’s subliminal self. “You say things that mean nothing, just because you like the sound of them. Do you know how you've always seemed to me?”
“No,”
“I'll tell you, now I’ve the chance. You're a spuffling absurdity. You've made me feel I was locked up inside a bumble bee. You buzz, and you get emotional ; you're in and out of paddies, and there is nothing to you at all but arrant curiosity about unessentials.”
“It’s a bit thick, coming into my house, with no clothes on, to tell me off like this!”
“I've always been in your house. You think I’m absurd because I’ve no clothes on. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ THE outsider, looking at the thing from a detached point of view, would have had another doubt, and that doubt would have been whether the man without clothes, or the man with clothes, was the original Mr. Panton, for they were so utterly alike that there was absolutely no evidence by which to choose. Mr. Panton was certain that he was Mr. Panton, but the other was just as certain that he was as much Mr. Panton as Mr. Panton was, and had gone to his—his refers to both of them—bed on that assumption. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ What?”
“The intelligence which settled your problem for you while you slept. I never sleep, you know, but I'm often very glad when you do, for then you don’t distract me with your futilities.”
“Here, I say!” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ He had an odd sensation, also, as though he were choking and bursting. A moment later he tore off his collar, which was strangling him, The next thing he did was to get out of his clothes while he could. All the time he watched the body on the floor, though not very closely. When he had nothing on but his shirt he knelt down beside the corpse.
That is, he would have done if there had been one to kneel beside. There was not. There was only a heap of garments. Mr. Panton looked at himself, felt himself, and went upstairs. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ You always were twins; every man has two entities, the objective self and the subliminal self. You, the objective self, are the portion which concerns itself with futilities, like getting on in the world, out-shining your neighbors, and all that sort of thing. I, the subliminal self, am that part of you whose business it is to concern itself with the things that matter. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ You couldn't expect her to be, and now you've lost us a perfectly good charwoman, a real treasure, as my wife calls her.”
“I will explain to our wife.”
“You won't be here when she comes back.” “How difficult it is for the objective mind to accept a new situation without protest. Do look at it calmly. Suppose I left the house in this eiderdown, perfectly unfitted as I am, unable, indeed, to procure myself a livelihood or clothes. I should immediately be arrested. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Donovan Bayley, The Thrill Book (1919)

“ I never have done things that are of no use; that isn’t what I’m for.”
“You seem very mad.”
“Reduced to the basic fact, that means you don’t understand me. Of course, now I’m outside you, you don’t possess the means of understanding me, because no one can understand his subliminal self.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

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