
“those who escape hell
however
never talk about
it
and nothing much
bothers them
after
that.”
Sjálfstætt fólk (Independent People) (1935), Book One, Part I: Icelandic Pioneers
Context: Never did these thanes of hell escape their just deserts. No one ever heard of Harekur or Gongu-Hrolfur or Bernotus being worsted in the final struggle. In the same way no one will be able to say that Bjartur of Summerhouses ever got the worst of it in his world war with the country's specters, no matter how often he might tumble over a precipice or roll head over heels down a gully - "while there's a breath left in my nostrils, it will never keep me down, no matter how hard it blows."
“those who escape hell
however
never talk about
it
and nothing much
bothers them
after
that.”
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 593.
“I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth and they think it's hell.”
Source: As quoted in My Fellow Americans : The Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents (2003) by Michael Waldman, p. 137
“So it always is: when you escape to a desert the silence shouts in your ear.”
Source: The Quiet American
General Security: The Liquidation of Opium (1925)