Quotes from book
The Crimson Petal and the White

Name: The Crimson Petal and the White
Author: Michel Faber

Michel Faber

The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2002 novel by Michel Faber set in Victorian England.

“Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

First lines, Ch. 1
The Crimson Petal and the White (2002)
Context: Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them. This city I am bringing you to is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. You may imagine, from other stories you've read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether.

“Participating in Society in not a thing one can do naturally; one has to rehearse for it.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White

“History indulges strange whims in the way it dresses its women.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White

“A single day spent doing things which fail to nourish the soul is a day stolen, mutilated, and discarded in the gutter of destiny.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White

“Let's not be coy: you were hoping that I would satisfy all the desires you're too shy to name, or at least show you a good time. Now you hesitate, still holding on to me, but tempted to let me go.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), Ch. 1

“The main characters in this story, with whom you want to become intimate, are nowhere near here. They aren't expecting you; you mean nothing to them. If you think they're going to get out of their warm beds and travel miles to meet you, you are mistaken.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), Ch. 1

“What you lack is the right connections, and that is what I've brought you here to make: connections.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), Ch. 1
Context: What you lack is the right connections, and that is what I've brought you here to make: connections. A person who is worth nothing must introduce you to a person worth next-to-nothing, and that person to another, and so on and so forth until finally you can step across the threshold, almost one of the family.