Canonical Randoms: F5
The next five quotes will be from five randomly selected Penguin Books novels, each quote being taken from page 25, the fifth sentence.
Let’s see how these five literary works stand this test of randomness.
Le génie n’est qu’une plus grande aptitude à la patience.
Flaubert, Gustave, Comte Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (orig.), Francis Steegmuller (ed.). The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830–1857. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1980. p. 66.
4 weeks ago - 
1
1
[…] for [Pellerin] had realised once for all the stupidity of Line. One should not look for Beauty and Unity in a work of art so much as character and variety.
Flaubert, Gustave. Sentimental Education. London: Penguin Books, 2004. p. 130.
Dooley finished his beer at a gulp, again giving his jolly monk’s laugh at the thought of man’s digestive vicissitudes.
Powell, Anthony. The Valley of Bones. London: Penguin Books, 1968. p. 25.
The taxi men don’t believe my address when I give it to them, and so they forget to come — they say they’re coming, but they don’t come.
Drabble, Margaret. The Needle’s Eye. London: Penguin Books, 1973. p. 25.
My niece thought she’d married a man and found that she’d married a spoilt baby, Mrs Matthews.
Wilson, Angus. No Laughing Matter. London: Penguin Books, 1969. p. 25.
But what startled me most was to see the door I had come through open slowly and give passage to a head in a uniform cap with a Board of Trade badge.
Conrad, Joseph. Chance. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 1974. p. 25.
Princes Street was decorated: Chinese lanterns hung in the pollarded limes: signal-flags and other bunting, coloured tablecloths, tanned sails, even gay petticoats and Sunday trousers streamed from some of the poorer windows.
Hughes, Richard. The Fox in the Attic. London: Penguin Books, 1964. p. 25.
1 month ago - 1
1
My dear fellow, how can I, Laurence Sanderson, be expected to find a man carrying some sort of theory book. I do believe that you will have to elaborate on your meager description. You do know what that means, elaborate, don’t you?
Sandusky, Brett. Enlightenment. Amsterdam: Martian Prince, 2013.
1 month ago - 2
2
And here the merry atmosphere soured. “A watermelon for the black snake,” said the toad. “Now you’re just being racist.
Sedaris, David, Ian Falconer (ill.). Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Wicked Bestiary. London: Little, Brown, 2010. p. 27.
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The Canonical Notes © Martian Prince
Quotes and (foot)notes are copyrighted material from their respective publisher(s) and owner(s).
