“Before the mind snaps, or the heart breaks, it gather itself like a clock about to strike. It might even be said one pulls himself together to disintegrate.”

—  Peter de Vries

Source: The Blood of the Lamb

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Before the mind snaps, or the heart breaks, it gather itself like a clock about to strike. It might even be said one pu…" by Peter de Vries?
Peter de Vries photo
Peter de Vries 11
American editor and novelist 1910–1993

Related quotes

Robin Hobb photo

“One can only walk so far from one's true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls one back.”

Robin Hobb book Royal Assassin

Source: Royal Assassin

Sarah Dessen photo

“For two hours I'd felt myself stretching tighter and tighter, like a rubber band pulled to the point of snapping. And now, I could feel the smaller, weaker part of myself beginning to fray, tiny bits giving way before the big break.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Dreamland (2000)

Cassandra Clare photo

“There's no need to clarify my finger snap," said Magnus. "The implication was clear in the snap itself.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Cassandra Clare photo

“Magnus snapped his fingers again, menacingly. "Get up."
"Or you'll be the next one to go up in smoke," said Simon with relish.
"There's no need to clarify my finger snap. The implication was clear in the snap itself."”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Magnus and Simon, pg. 137
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Diana Gabaldon photo

“I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Brian Selznick photo

“Even if all the clocks in the station break down, thought Hugo, time won't stop. Not even if you really want it to.

Like now.”

Brian Selznick book The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Source: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Terry Pratchett photo

“The duke had a mind that ticked like a clock and, like a clock, it regularly went cuckoo.”

Terry Pratchett book Wyrd Sisters

Source: Wyrd Sisters

John Ruysbroeck photo

“Unity is this: that a man feel himself to be gathered together with all his powers in the unity of his heart. Unity brings inward peace and restfulness of heart. Unity of heart is a bond which draws together body and soul, heart and senses, and all the outward and inward powers and encloses them in the union of love.”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

Quoted in Message of the East, Vol. 15 (1926) by Cohasset Vedanta Centre, p. 212

Florence Nightingale photo

“The next Christ will perhaps be a female Christ. But do we see one woman who looks like a female Christ? or even like "the messenger before" her "face", to go before her and prepare the hearts and minds for her?”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

Cassandra (1860)
Context: The great reformers of the world turn into the great misanthropists, if circumstances or organisation do not permit them to act. Christ, if He had been a woman, might have been nothing but a great complainer. Peace be with the misanthropists! They have made a step in progress; the next will make them great philanthropists; they are divided but by a line.
The next Christ will perhaps be a female Christ. But do we see one woman who looks like a female Christ? or even like "the messenger before" her "face", to go before her and prepare the hearts and minds for her?
To this will be answered that half the inmates of Bedlam begin in this way, by fancying that they are "the Christ."
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.

Related topics