They were talking more distantly than if they were strangers who had just met, for if they had been he would have been interested in her just because of that, and curious, but their common past was a wall of indifference between them. Kitty knew too well that she had done nothing to beget her father's affection, he had never counted in the house and had been taken for granted, the bread-winner who was a little despised because he could provide no more luxuriously for his family; but she had taken for granted that he loved her just because he was her father, and it was a shock to discover that his heart was empty of feeling for her. She had known that they were all bored by him, but it had never occurred to her that he was equally bored by them. He was as ever kind and subdued, but the sad perspicacity which she had learnt in suffering suggested to her that, though he probably never acknowledged it to himself and never would, in his heart he disliked her.
W. Somerset Maugham
Related Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Jace had looked at her then, the blaze of fai... CASSANDRA CLARE No, it had never been like this for him before, with anyone. Of all the women he’d known, she was ... J.D. ROBB His hands tightened on her shoulders as the truth washed over him. My God, she really had told him y... CAROLYN JEWEL She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, ... KEN FOLLETT She wanted to write to him. Tell him she was glad he was back, that he was alive, that he was home a... COCO J. GINGER Why could he not have chosen some other woman? Why Avelina? But he knew why. It was because she had ... MELANIE DICKERSON There had been a time in Godfrey's life when, had she stood before him in all her splendor, he would... GEORGE MACDONALD They both had a broken heart, but she turned out to be cold hearted, he didn't lose hope because tha... DAVID BENTO GUERRA Whatever shred of hope he'd had for a future with her was gone. She still felt something for him, sh... SARAH J. MAAS Yes; he had done it. She was in the carriage, and felt that he had placed her there, that his will a... JANE AUSTEN The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits in which it was difficult to d... JANE AUSTEN Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting th... JANE AUSTEN He shook his head in disbelief. He would cook and take her to his place. He was about to break two o... MARCIA WEBER MARTINS It broke his heart because she started to consider that her home. But on the other hand he knew she ... ELEANOR POPPELL Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was neces... JANE AUSTEN She had grown older. And he loved her more now than he had loved her when he understood her better, ... MICHAEL ONDAATJE He was demanding. He always would be. But sometimes, he was so vulnerable and she realized she had p... CHRISTINE FEEHAN He had had to be father and mother to her, and he had taken to his tasks with determination, seeking... PAULA BRACKSTON He knew in the way that she was a part of him, the way her breathing was his breathing, and her drea... CASSANDRA CLARE He took time to explain the course of the disease and he supported Karen and assured her that he wou... JOELLYN SCHULTZ She was a creature of the deep, and there she must return, or perish. Toby understood that, but it h... JULIET MARILLIER An ordinary beginning, something that would have been forgotten had it been anyone but her. But as h... NICHOLAS SPARKS She saw in his eyes that he knew she was thinking about him. She liked the fact that he knew it, and... NICHOLAS SPARKS She suddenly understood why she had let him kiss her in the diner, why she had wanted him at all. HOLLY BLACK She alone had been blind to his merit. Why? Because he loved her and she did not love him. What was ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM she, with her affection and her gaiety, had been largely responsible for him having rediscovered the... PAULO COELHO It was like they waited to tell each other things that had never been told before. What she had to s... CARSON MCCULLERS Looking at that pain in her eyes, he felt a closeness with her that he had never experienced before.... JACQUELINE SIMON GUNN He had been violently confused by her real presence in the opposite inaccessible corner. For months ... A.S. BYATT On sentry duty with Hazel, he would try to take his mind off it. He loved spending time with her. He... RICK RIORDAN He wondered how it could have taken him so long to realize he cared for her, and he told her so, and... NEIL GAIMAN The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. It was a fact. She... HAN KANG The death of her father and mother and the rich acres of and that had come down to her had set a tra... SHERWOOD ANDERSON All that he had of her was his memory, where he held every moment, every single moment that she had ... JULIET MARILLIER She shrank into her chair, sure that if he could see her now, he would know. The truth would be evid... MARISSA MEYER So he found her. Most people would have said she was relaxed. But then, Roarke thought, most people ... J.D. ROBB While this is all very amusing, the kiss that will free the girl is the kiss that she most desires,�... CASSANDRA CLARE She was breathtaking in her beauty and her human spirit, he thought, unable to speak as he gazed upo... CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE An emotion clamped down on her heart. It squeezed her into a terrible silence. But he said nothing a... MARIE RUTKOSKI She'd always known he didn't love her. But it was easier to bear when he didn't know she loved him. ... SARAH ADDISON ALLEN It was not only Odette's indifference, however, that he must take pains to circumvent; it was also, ... MARCEL PROUST It was well-known he was stalking her. I think that she had been seeing him briefly but then had dec... HEATHER CHULU He loved her. Jay Heaton, her best friend since childhood was in love with her. He didn't say i... KIMBERLY DERTING This pretty young blonde girl was screaming at her boyfriend because he text-messaged her that they ... JOEL SCHUMACHER She understood that it had never just been about talent: it had also always been about money. Ethan ... MEG WOLITZER Jill... had explained homosexuality, after Mike had read about it and failed to grok--and had given ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Sharp knives seemed to cut her delicate feet, yet she hardly felt them, so deep was the pain in her ... HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN She had no need to ask why he had come. She knew as certainly as if he had told her that he was here... LEO TOLSTOY There was something in her eyes! Her eyes were expressive and from the first day that they met, they... AVIJEET DAS She wondered whether there would ever come an hour in her life when she didn't think of him -- didn'... PHILIP PULLMAN He had appeared beside her because she had wanted him to. She had called him to her, and was calling... ALICE HOFFMAN If she had loved him, he would have opened windows, allowed all of that precious light of hers in sh... AMANDA LANCE If he had even blinked, she would have been gone; but he did not blink, and he held her, as he had l... PETER S. BEAGLE She'd betrayed her country because she'd believed it was the right thing to do. Yet would she have d... MARIE RUTKOSKI He did not speak; merely looked at her with an expression she had seen traces of before but never fu... ANNE FORTIER As she had been walking from the ward to that room, she had felt such pure hatred that now she had n... PAULO COELHO Will, the boy who loved the same books she did, the same poetry she did, who made her laugh even whe... CASSANDRA CLARE Juan Peron, I think in the end, had become a little resentful of Eva. She was so popular. She was so... ALMA GUILLERMOPRIETO He remembered Tessa weeping in his arms in Paris, and thinking that he had never known the loss she ... CASSANDRA CLARE He should in humility have asked her why it was that he was naturally a cuckold, why two women of di... WILLIAM TREVOR But Julian's blood was different. When she saw it she thought of him, shot and crumpling, the way hi... CASSANDRA CLARE Royce understood then why she had come: she had come to finish the task her relatives had begun; to ... JUDITH MCNAUGHT Seven hundred years ago, Tersa had told [Daemon] the living myth was coming. Seven hundred years of ... ANNE BISHOP George stared at the dove. What would she say if she could speak to him? What would she wish for, fo... METTE IVIE HARRISON His mind drifted back to times past. He missed the companionship of his old pack. He had grown up in... ALAN KINROSS Brigan was saying her name, and he was sending her a feeling. It was courage and strength, and somet... KRISTIN CASHORE He tried to remember Moon Child's eyes, but was no longer able to. He was sure of only one thing: th... MICHAEL ENDE Yet losing him seemed unbearable. He was the one she loved, the one she would always love, and as he... NICHOLAS SPARKS Because her general taste appalled him, it annoyed him that he himself constituted one of her favori... PHILIP K. DICK Everyone deserved the chance to be redeemed, and Michael had gone his whole life never having it. He... PRISCILLA GLENN A lengthy and painful discussion followed. It lasted through tea and dinner. It was revealed to Lady... KAGE BAKER There was no escaping his crown. Or his father, who would behead Sorscha, burn her, and scatter her ... SARAH J. MAAS It had taken her a good deal of time before she believed that she was worth all that fierce affectio... GAIL CARRIGER It had been a long time since a woman had aroused his interest as Amelia Hathaway had. The moment he... LISA KLEYPAS I just could not take it in. Magnus was vulnerable in a way because he was hopelessly shy and had ne... FRANCIS JONES He closed his eyes. This bed was a wedding gift from friends he had not seen in years. He tried to r... IAN MCEWAN She saw how he was staring at it, the bright red hue beneath her bonnet. She could not bear to see t... CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE His heart stilled at the mere thought of her hurting herself. 'He was a fool.' Of course this d... ELIZABETH HOYT She thought in would be awkward for both to be brought into conscious collision; and fancied that, f... ELIZABETH GASKELL I believe in you, my darling. I believe in you." He closed his eyes. And when he opened th... ELIZABETH HOYT He knew today that his life was forever changed in that one moment and he was clueless as to why or ... P.J. FIALA He had no doubt that Merrin had called out to God here in this place while she was been raped and ki... JOE HILL His agony somehow became an invisible hand, stretching out through the Force, a hand that found her,... MATTHEW WOODRING STOVER Listening to Eddy describe his relationship with our mom seemed to indicate that what I feared would... JANET LOUISE STEPHENSON She didn’t know how long they stood on that roof, tangled up in each other, mouths and hands rovin... SARAH J. MAAS Will had laid down his heart for her and Jem to walk upon because he loved them more than he loved h... CASSANDRA CLARE Then she sat as if paralyzed, thinking. She had never in her life felt such a longing. She wanted Mi... STIEG LARSSON For all his determination to keep her at arm's length, they had literally leaned on each other. He c... ROBERT GALBRAITH He, too, stood looking at her for a moment--and it seemed to her that it was not a look of greeting ... AYN RAND Inside the music like this, she understood many things. She understood that Simon was a disappointed... ELIZABETH STROUT She was darkness and he was darkness and there had never been anything before this time, only darkne... MARGARET MITCHELL Kev wasn't certain if he was surrendering to Win or to his own passion for her. Only that there was ... LISA KLEYPAS He tore off her pajamas. She wasn't out with a fresh face of makeup with her hair done or a short dr... ANONYMOUS1234 My God", he whispered. What have I done to her? He thought, humbled. The spell was broken, but it wa... KIM HARRISON She had never been in love before. She'd tried to save herself the pain, but all her pretending and ... MELANIE DICKERSON To love her was to taste sweet surrender. For had she not entered his life, he would have sought the... RICHELLE E. GOODRICH His breath caught, harsh enough that she looked over her shoulder. But his eyes weren't o... SARAH J. MAAS Anna had been preparing herself for this meeting, had thought what she would say to him, but she did... LEO TOLSTOY But now she could not bear the way she sounded. She was not a person anyone could love. .... PETER CAREY Kiss me again,” he challenged, only half joking. It was so weird to hear him say that, to hea... KIMBERLY DERTING
More W. Somerset Maugham
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SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I had an elderly friend who used often to ask me to stay with him in the country. H... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Love is a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We have long passed the Victorian era, when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a ba... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches them tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large wi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actuall... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tolerance is only another name for indifference. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by make-believe. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who has lost it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome. It's a relief then to deal with a man w... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life isn't long enough for love and art. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When things are at their worst I find something always happens. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, pe... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to th... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The important thing was to love rather than to be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men seek but one thing in life - their pleasure. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You Europeans know nothing about America. Because we amass large fortunes you think we care for noth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We didn't think much in the air corps of a fellow who wangled a cushy job out of his C.O. by butteri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM