“I drew my hands over her belly and legs, felt my own desire, searched foolishly for my passion, strained for it while she waited, rolled and tore my hair and begged for it, but there was none, there was none at all, only the retreat to Hackmuth's letter and thoughts that remained to be written, but no lust, only fear of her, and shame and humiliation.”

— John Fante , book Ask the Dust

Source: Ask the Dust (1939), Chapter Nine

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

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I drew my hands over her belly and legs, felt my own desire, searched foolishly for my passion, strained for it while s…" by John Fante?

John Fante 113

1909–1983; American novelist, short story writer and screen… 1909–1983

Related quotes

“I needed love no words could say;
She drew me softly nigh her chair,
My head upon her knees to lay,
With cool hands that caressed my hair.
She sat with hands as if to bless,
And looked with grave, ethereal eyes;
Ensouled by ancient quietness,
A gentle priestess of the Wise.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter

By Still Waters (1906)

“In the beginning I drew and painted from nature in order to know her. Then later, only to fall under her spell. And today, to let her mirror my thoughts and feelings.”

William Baziotes (1912–1963) American painter

from the catalog of the traveling exhibition 'Nature in Abstraction', Whitney Museum of modern Art, 1958, p. 61
1950s

“I thought about reaching out with my authorial hand and snatching her from that awful situation. I thought about it and I agonized over it. But to me, that felt dishonest and emotionally manipulative. This was the end she had chosen, and I felt she had earned an ending that was as powerful as she was.”

Veronica Roth (1988) American author

About the End of Allegiant (SPOILERS), Roth, Veronica, Veronica Roth, October 28, 2013, November 3, 2013 http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/about-end-of-allegiant-spoilers.html,

“Oh! She was good as she was fair,
None—none on earth above her!
As pure in thought as angels are:
To know her was to love her.”

Samuel Rogers (1763–1855) British poet

I, l. 67-70.
Jacqueline (1814)

“My mother, who disliked me from the bottom of her heart, deliberately did everything, it seemed, that would strengthen and intensify my unbounded passion for freedom and a military life. She wouldn't let me walk in the garden. She wouldn't let me be away from her for even half an hour: I had to sit in her bedroom and make lace. She herself taught me to sew, to knit, and seeing that I had neither the desire nor the ability for this sort of work, that in my hands everything tore or broke, she became angry, lost control of herself, and beat me very painfully on the hands.”

Nadezhda Durova (1783–1866) Russian Army officer

Translated by Mary Fleming Zirin (1989). The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253205492.