“Fingers of steel. Wrist of silk.”

— Frédéric Chopin

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 26, 2025. History

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Frédéric Chopin30

Polish composer 1810–1849

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

“You crawl over the onrushing piano passages in slow motion. Your fingers are in ten little steel strait-jackets….”

George Antheil (1900–1959) American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor

“His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it between your fingers.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

“You sound as if you don't mind what happens to it," said Tessa. "Won't you miss it here? This place has been your home."
His fingers stroked her wrist lightly, making her shiver.
"You are home for me now.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“Scars crossed her welded wrists.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

“The alcohol smell is on my fingers, cold and remote, piercing like a steel pin going in. It smells like white enamel basins. When I look up at the stars in the nighttime, cold and white and sharp, I think they must smell like that.”

Margaret Atwood book Cat's Eye

Source: Cat's Eye

“[ Silke doth quench the fire in the kitchin. ]”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

“Her style looks absurdly simple — an effortless act of projection, a serpentine lasso whereby her voice casually winds itself around our most vulnerable fantasies. But it is not easy. It is what remains when ingratiation, sentimentality and the manifold devices of heart-warming crap have been ruthlessly pared away. Steel and silk are left, shining and durable.”

Kenneth Tynan (1927–1980) English theatre critic and writer

"Marlene Dietrich" (1967), p. 215
Profiles (1990)

“He caught her by the wrist, brought her hand to his bare chest. Splayed her fingers over his heart. It beat against her palm, like a fist punching its way through his sternum. 'Break my heart,' he said. 'Break it in pieces. I give you permission.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

“You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

"omlets are not made without breaking eggs" first appeared in English in 1796. It is from the French, "on ne saurait faire d'omelette sans casser des œufs" (1742 and earlier), attributed to François de Charette. In the context of the Soviet Union, Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753448-2,00.html attributes it to Lazar Kaganovich. Walter Duranty associated with Stalin in the New York Times. "But – to put it brutally – you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and the Bolshevist leaders are just as indifferent to the casualties that may be involved in their drive toward socialization as any General during the World War who ordered a costly attack in order to show his superiors that he and his division possessed the proper soldierly spirit. In fact, the Bolsheviki are more indifferent because they are animated by fanatical conviction." Walter Duranty, Special Cable to The New York Times http://www.artukraine.com/old/famineart/duranty.htm, The New York Times, New York, March 31, 1933, page 13. Misattributed Variant: You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

“Fingers of steel. Wrist of silk.”

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Frédéric Chopin30

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