“ one could say nothing to nobody. The urgency of the moment always missed its mark. Words fluttered sideways and struck the object inches too low. ”
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927). copy citation
Author | Virginia Woolf |
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Source | To the Lighthouse |
Topic | words moment missing |
Date | 1927 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | |
Weblink | http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100101.txt |
Context
“Then he would look up benevolently as always, from his smoky vague green eyes. But one only woke people if one knew what one wanted to say to them. And she wanted to say not one thing, but everything. Little words that broke up the thought and dismembered it said nothing. «About life, about death; about Mrs. Ramsay»—no, she thought, one could say nothing to nobody. The urgency of the moment always missed its mark. Words fluttered sideways and struck the object inches too low. Then one gave it up; then the idea sunk back again; then one became like most middle-aged people, cautious, furtive, with wrinkles between the eyes and a look of perpetual apprehension. For how could one express in words these emotions of the body?”
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