“It is a wary business, walking about a strange house you are to know well. Only cats and dogs with their more expressive bodies enact the tension we share with them at such times. The you inside you gathers up defensively: something is stealing upon you every moment; you will never be quite the same again. These new unsmiling lights, reflections and objects are to become your memories, riveted to you closer than friends or lovers, going with you, even, into the grave: worse, they may become dear and fasten like so many leeches on your heart.”

— Elizabeth Bowen , book The House in Paris

The House in Paris (1935)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Elizabeth Bowen 17

Irish writer 1899–1973

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Elizabeth Bowen 17

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