The Purple Land quotes

To the very end they will come back oftenest to memory and seem more vivid than all the other years of existence—the four-and-twenty I had already lived, and the, say, forty or forty-five—I hope it may be fifty or even sixty—which are to follow.

For what soul in this wonderful, various world would wish to depart before ninety!

The dark as well as the light, its sweet and its bitter, make me love it.

For what soul in this wonderful, various world would wish to depart before ninety!

The dark as well as the light, its sweet and its bitter, make me love it.

Of the first of these three a word only need be written. This was the period of courtship and matrimony;

It was necessary to make a beginning, and I would not have turned up my nose at anything, however small, I was so heartily sick of being poor, idle, and dependent. Nothing could I find.

In one house I was told that the city had not yet recovered from the effects of the late revolution, and that business was, in consequence, in a complete state of paralysis; in another that the city was on the eve of a revolution, and that business was, in consequence, in a complete state of paralysis.

And everywhere it was the same story—the political state of the country made it impossible for me to win an honest dollar.

“No, señor, not at all,” replied the old man. “Why, señor, I myself put the knife into that man’s throat.

For if a man did not grow accustomed to shed blood in this world, his life would be a burden to him.

”

After a while he invited me to spend the night under his roof. “Your horse is fat and lazy,” he said with truth, “and, unless you are a relation of the owl family, you cannot go much farther before tomorrow.

My house is a humble one, but the mutton is juicy, the fire warm, and the water cool there, the same as in another place.

”

All this revealed to me that I had just missed a very pretty little idyllic flirtation, conducted in very novel circumstances.

Love cometh up as a flower, and men and charming women naturally flirt when brought together.

Yet it was hard to imagine how I could have started a flirtation and carried it on to its culminatory point in that great public room, with all those eyes on me; dogs, babes, and cats tumbling about my feet;

What says the poet? I daresay some of you fellows remember the passage. But what for, I ask! What, gentlemen, is the object of our being here? That’s just what I’m going to tell you, don’t you know.

We are here, gentlemen, to infuse a little of our Anglo-Saxon energy, and all that sort of thing, into this dilapidated old tinpot of a nation.

”

“Now, gentlemen,” he continued, “isn’t it hard—devilish hard, don’t you know, that so little is made of us? I feel it—I feel it, gentlemen; our lives are being frittered away. I don’t know whether you fellows feel it. You see, we ain’t a melancholy lot.

We’re a glorious combination against the blue devils, that’s what we are.

Only sometimes I feel, don’t you know, that all the rum in the place can’t quite kill them. I can’t help thinking of jolly days on the other side of the water.

The only signs of life visible were a white-haired old man seated within the corridor smoking, and a few yards from it a young girl standing under a willow-tree.

But that girl was a picture for one to gaze long upon and carry about in his memory for a lifetime.

Never had I beheld anything so exquisitely beautiful.

Reclining against the wall, I occupied myself agreeably watching the sweet face of Margarita, which in her happy excitement had become suffused with a delicate rosy colour.

I have always had a great love for the beautiful: sunsets, wild flowers, especially verbenas, so prettily called margaritas in this country; and beyond everything the rainbow spanning the vast gloomy heavens, with its green and violet arch, when the storm-cloud passes eastward over the wet sun-flushed earth.

All these things have a singular fascination for my soul. But beauty when it presents itself in the human form is even more than these things. There is in it a magnetic power drawing my heart;

… knowing at the same time that his words will fall like a thunderbolt out of a blue sky upon a neighbour’s dwelling, consuming it to ashes and killing all within it, why, sirs, in such a case the good Christian prefers to hold his peace.

For what has one man more than another that he should put himself in the place of Providence?

We are all of flesh. True, some of us are only dog’s flesh, fit for nothing; but to all of us the lash is painful, and where it rains blood will sprout. This, I say;

For what has one man more than another that he should put himself in the place of Providence? We are all of flesh.

True, some of us are only dog’s flesh, fit for nothing; but to all of us the lash is painful, and where it rains blood will sprout.

This, I say; but, remember, I say not that Manuel the Fox robbed me—for I would sully no man’s reputation, even a robber’s, or have anyone suffer on my account.

“ ‘True,’ said Manuel; ‘and since these calamities fell on me, what has become of the friendships that were so many?

For nothing has a worse smell, or stinks more, than poverty, so that all men when they behold it cover up their faces or fly from such a pestilence.

’

“ ‘For what you say, I thank you,’ he answered. ‘

My faults are more numerous than the spots on the wild cat, but not amongst them is precipitancy.

’

When Batata saw me making preparations for departure, he warmly pressed me to stay to breakfast.

I consented at once, for, after all, the more leisurely one does a thing the sooner will it be accomplished⁠—especially in the Banda Orientál.

One breakfasts here at noon, so that I had plenty of time to see, and renew my pleasure in seeing, pretty Margarita.

then his poverty-stricken appearance and his furtive glances filled me with suspicion. I looked at my host, who was standing near, thinking to take my cue from the expression of his face; but it was only a stolid Oriental face that revealed nothing.

An ancient rule in whist is to play trumps when in doubt; now my rule of action is, when two courses are open to me and I am in doubt, to take the bolder one.

Acting on this principle, I determined to go with Marcos, and accordingly we rode forth together.

It therefore surprised me when you came here and spoke kindly to me. I desired to know whether that feeling was only on the surface; since the men one meets with are often like horned cattle.

When one falls, his companions of the pasture-ground remember only his past offences, and make haste to gore him.

”

I had scarcely sat down, however, before I round that one disagreeable consequence of my performance—the fat señora’s claim on my undying devotion and gratitude—had yet to be faced.

She greeted my entrance with an effusive smile; and the sweetest smiles of some people one meets are less endurable than their black looks.

In self-defence I assumed as drowsy and vacant an expression as I could summon on the instant to a countenance by nature almost too ingenuous. I pretended not to hear, or to misunderstand, everything that was said to me;

It was a lovely morning, without a cloud, and the heavy dew sparkled on the grass like drops of rain. What a pleasant thing it was to be able to ride forth again free to go where I liked!

And so ends my snake-story, which is perhaps not very interesting; but it is true, and therefore has one advantage over all other snake-stories told by travellers.

It is not, however, every wanderer from England—I blush while saying it—who can make himself familiar with the home habits, the ways of thought and speech, of a distant people.

Bid me discourse of lowly valley, lofty height, of barren waste, shady wood, or cooling stream where I have drunk and been refreshed; but all these places, pleasant or dreary, must be in the kingdom called the heart.

After getting some information about the country I had to traverse from the pulpero, who told me that I would probably reach the River Yí before evening, I resumed my journey.

I consumed an amazing quantity of meat, as much, in fact, as any gaucho there; and to eat as much as one of these men at a sitting is a feat for an Englishman to boast about.

Supper done, I lit a cigar and leant back against the wall, enjoying many delightful sensations all together⁠—warmth, rest, and hunger satisfied, and the subtle fragrance of that friend and comforter, divine tobacco.

On the farther side of the room my host was meanwhile talking to the other men in low tones.

and they always talked about wars, and cattle, and horse-racing, and a great many other important things that Alma could not understand. There was no one to talk to Alma and for Alma to talk to or to play with.

And when she went out of the house where all the big people were talking, she heard the cocks crowing, the dogs barking, the birds singing, the sheep bleating, and the trees rustling their leaves over her head, and she could not understand one word of all they said.

At last, having no one to play with or talk to, she sat down and began to cry.

After breakfast I went for a walk along the river, where I spent several hours hunting for flowers and fossils, and amusing myself as best I could.

There were legions of duck, coot, rosy spoonbills, and black-necked swans disporting themselves in the water, and I was very thankful that I had no gun with me, and so was not tempted to startle them with rude noises, and send any of them away to languish wounded amongst the reeds.

At length, after having indulged in a good swim, I set out to walk back to the estancia.

“I think you are feverish,” said Doña Mercedes, feeling my pulse. “We must send for the doctor—we have a doctor in our little town, a very skilful man.”

“I have little faith in doctors, señora,” I said, “but great faith in women and grapes. If you will give me a cluster from your vine to refresh my blood I promise to be well very soon.”

Dolores laughed lightly and left the room, only to return in a few minutes with a dish full of ripe, purple clusters.

After long inquiry in that city I discovered that she had not long survived her husband, and that a foreign señora, had taken Transita away, no one knew whither. Her loss cast a great shadow on my life.

Poignant grief cannot endure forever, nor for very long; only the memory of grief endures.

To this memory, which cannot fade, it is perhaps due that in one respect at least I am not like other men. I feel that I am incapable of passion for any woman.

for often in the Banda Orientál I did not quite seem to know how to mix my truth and lies, and so preferred to hold my tongue. In this instance, as subsequent events proved, I held it not wisely but too well.

The open man, with no secrets from the world, often enough escapes disasters which overtake your very discreet person, who acts on the old adage that speech was given to us to conceal our thoughts.

but he was, I think, a little too sedate for a black, for, although his face would shine on warm days like polished ebony, it did not smile.

Everyone in the house conspired to keep up the fiction of Nepomucino’s importance; they had, in fact, conspired so long and so well, that it had very nearly ceased to be a fiction.

Everybody addressed him with grave respect.

She was silent. Then, drawing her closer, I touched her lips with mine.

But who was ever satisfied with that one touch on the lips for which the heart has craved?

It was like contact with a strange, celestial fire that instantly kindled my love to madness. Again and yet again I kissed her;

… flood of sunshine came over the earth from that red, everlasting urn resting on the far horizon, I could, had I been alone, have cast myself upon the ground to adore the great God of Nature, who had given me this precious moment of life.

For here the religion that languishes in crowded cities or steals shamefaced to hide itself in dim churches flourishes greatly, filling the soul with a solemn joy.

Face to face with Nature on the vast hills at eventide, who does not feel himself near to the Unseen?

For here the religion that languishes in crowded cities or steals shamefaced to hide itself in dim churches flourishes greatly, filling the soul with a solemn joy.

Face to face with Nature on the vast hills at eventide, who does not feel himself near to the Unseen?

Out of his heart God shall not pass: His image stampèd is on every grass.

“That is very interesting information,” said one of my comrades.

“A stolen horse will always carry you well,” said another.

“If you cannot steal a horse without compunction, you have not been properly brought up,” cried the third.

“I will now tell you a strange adventure I had when I was a young man; but remember I do not put a blunderbuss to any man’s breast to compel him to believe me.

For what is, is; and let him that disbelieves shake his head till he shakes it off, and it falls to the ground like a coconut from the tree.

“After I got married I sold my horses, and, taking all my money, purchased two oxcarts, intending to make my living by carrying freight.

My companions never smiled. Rivarola came back with the bucket of water, and, after staring at me for some time, said,

“If the tears, which they say always follow laughter, come in the same measure, then we shall have to sleep in the wet.”

“If the whole country is to be informed of our hiding-place,” said Blas the timid, “we were putting ourselves to an unnecessary trouble by running away from San Paulo.”

… had not deserved the severe censure Lechuza had passed on me the previous evening in reference to horse-stealing, for I had taken the dun with very little more compunction than one is accustomed to feel in England when “borrowing” an umbrella on a rainy day.

To all people in all parts of the world, a time comes when to appropriate their neighbour’s goods is held not only justifiable, but even meritorious; to Israelites in Egypt, Englishmen under a cloud in their own moist island, and to Orientals running away after a fight.

By keeping the dun over thirty hours in my possession I had acquired a kind of prescriptive right to it, and now began to look on it as my very own;

’Tis a blessed instinct of self-preservation which nature has provided us with; feeble, timid men possess it in common with the strong and brave, as weak, persecuted wild animals have it as well as those that are fierce and bloodthirsty.

It is the calm which comes without call when death suddenly and unexpectedly rises up to stare us in the face; it tells us that there is one faint chance which a premature attempt to escape or even a slight agitation will destroy.

“I have no wish to move, friend,” I said, “but I am curious to know why you attack me?”

“Talking of guitars,” spoke the woman, addressing me for the first time; “while we are waiting for the maté, perhaps you will sing us a ballad. The guitar is lying just behind you.”

“Señora, I do not play on it,” I answered. “An Englishman goes forth into the world without that desire, common to people of other nations, of making himself agreeable to those he may encounter on his way; this is why he does not learn to perform on musical instruments.”

The little man stared at me; then, deliberately disencumbering himself of surcingle, threads, and implements, he got up, advanced to me, and held out his hand.

“Teach ’em nothing,” he returned, with emphasis. “All we think about in the old country are books, cleanliness, clothes; what’s good for soul, brain, stomach; and we make ’em miserable. Liberty for everyone—that’s my rule.

Dirty children are healthy, happy children.

If a bee stings you in England, you clap on fresh dirt to cure the pain. Here we cure all kinds of pain with dirt. If my child is ill I dig up a spadeful of fresh mould and rub it well—best remedy out.

“Woman like—woman like,” he answered, waving his hand. “

Always ready to cry over the beaten one⁠—that is the only politics they know.

”

We had only to conquer Nature, find out her secrets, make her our obedient slave, then the earth would be Eden, and every man Adam and every Woman Eve.

We are still marching bravely on, conquering Nature, but how weary and sad we are getting!

The old joy in life and gaiety of heart have vanished, though we do sometimes pause for a few moments in our long forced march to watch the labours of some pale mechanician seeking after perpetual motion and indulge in a little dry, cackling laugh …

“But what is to be done?” he continued, staring straight before him and giving as little heed to my interruption as a hunter riding at a stiff fence would pay to a remark about the weather. “

When a man cannot get a knife, he breaks in two an old pair of sheep-shears, and with one of the blades makes himself an implement which has to serve him for a knife.

This is how it is with Doña Demetria; she has no one but her poor Santos to speak for her. If she had asked me to expose my life in her service, that I could easily have done;

But consider the life she has led! Grief has made her pale and thin, staining her face with purple under the eyes.

Can laughter and song come out of a heart where fear is?

Another life would change all; she would be a flower amongst women.”

red, white, blue, grey, yellow, and mixed—were, I must own, less troublesome, for, after hopping about for a while, screaming, chirping, and twittering, they very sensibly flew away, no doubt thinking their friends the cuckoos were making a great deal too much fuss.

My sole mammalian visitor was an armadillo, that came hurrying towards me, looking curiously like a little old bent-backed gentleman in a rusty black coat trotting briskly about on some very important business.

It came to within three yards of my feet, then stopped, and seemed astonished beyond measure at my presence, staring at me with its little, bleary, blinking eyes, and looking more like the shabby old gentleman than ever.

“

The moon is a quiet wife, but you chatter like a parakeet.

”

The cream-nose, I noticed, was a bony, long-bodied brute, with sleepy eyes and a ewe neck. Could it be that the little double-dealing witch had intended to deceive me? But in a moment I dismissed such a suspicion with the scorn it merited.

Let a woman be as false as she can, and able to fool her husband to the top of her bent, she is, compared with the man who wishes to sell you a horse, openness and truth itself.

I examined the piebald critically, walking and trotting him round; looked into his mouth, then at hoofs and fetlocks, beloved of windgalls; gazed with fixed attention into his eyes and dealt him a sudden brisk blow on the shoulder.

She caressed my hand in silence for a little while, and then answered, “I think you were right, Richard. Perhaps I am not capable of passion like some women. I felt—I knew that you were my friend.

To be near you was like sitting in the shade of a green tree in some hot, desolate place.

I thought it would be pleasant to sit there always and forget the bitter years. But, Richard, if you will always be my friend—my brother, I shall be more than content, and my life will seem different.”

… swan slain on the blue lakes, and the herdsman sent to twang his romantic guitar in Hades as a preliminary to security of person, I would prefer to go about prepared at any moment to defend my life against the sudden assaults of the assassin.

We do not live by bread alone, and British occupation does not give to the heart all the things for which it craves.

Blessings may even become curses when the gigantic power that bestows them on us scares from our midst the shy spirits of Beauty and of Poesy.

We do not live by bread alone, and British occupation does not give to the heart all the things for which it craves.

Blessings may even become curses when the gigantic power that bestows them on us scares from our midst the shy spirits of Beauty and of Poesy.

Nor is it solely because it appeals to the poetic feelings in us that this country endears itself to my heart. It is the perfect republic: the sense of emancipation experienced in it by the wanderer from the Old World is indescribably sweet and novel.

The Bedouin himself is not so free, since he accords an almost superstitious reverence and implicit obedience to his sheikh.

Here the lord of many leagues of land and of herds unnumbered sits down to talk with the hired shepherd, a poor, barefooted fellow in his smoky rancho, and no class or caste difference divides them, no consciousness of their widely different positions chills the warm current of sympathy between two human hearts.

How refreshing it is to meet with this perfect freedom of intercourse, tempered only by that innate courtesy and native grace of manner peculiar to Spanish Americans!

If this absolute equality is inconsistent with perfect political order, I for one should grieve to see such order established. Moreover, it is by no means true that the communities which oftenest startle us with crimes of disorder and violence are morally worse than others.

A community in which there are not many crimes cannot be morally healthy.

There were practically no crimes in Peru under the Inca dynasty; it was a marvellous thing for a person to commit an offence in that empire.

Nor is it solely because it appeals to the poetic feelings in us that this country endears itself to my heart. It is the perfect republic: the sense of emancipation experienced in it by the wanderer from the Old World is indescribably sweet and novel.

Even in our ultra-civilised condition at home we do periodically escape back to nature; and, breathing the fresh mountain air and gazing over vast expanses of ocean and land, we find that she is still very much to us.

It is something more than these bodily sensations we experience when first mingling with our fellow-creatures, where all men are absolutely free and equal as here. I fancy I hear some wise person exclaiming, “No, no, no!

Now, when I meet with a falsehood, I care not who the great persons who proclaim it may be, I do not try to like it or believe it or mimic the fashionable prattle of the world about it.

I hate all dreams of perpetual peace, all wonderful cities of the sun, where people consume their joyful, monotonous years in mystic contemplations, or find their delight, like Buddhist monks, in gazing on the ashes of dead generations of devotees.

The state is one unnatural, unspeakably repugnant: the dreamless sleep of the grave is more tolerable to the active, healthy mind than such an existence.