The Tour quotes
The lines readers remember from The Tour, by Louis Couperus.
18 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
Change of diet is the secret of good health.
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I am tired of Rome and Baiae; I am really tired of roast peacock and oysters. Nothing but Rome and roast peacock; nothing but Baiae and oysters: I shall end by turning into a peacock or an oyster!
Change of diet is the secret of good health.
I was losing my gaiety and had not a joke left in me to charm an occasional laugh out of Lucius. He did not even listen to me, Cora, when I was witty … and you expect him to listen to your song!
Life is but a dream, death is a bridge and eternity is life.
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And great Isis has appeared to them as the splendour of truth, for she lifted her veil for their delight, so that they saw her.
Life is but a dream, death is a bridge and eternity is life.
”
Egypt will be the death of me!
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“And I had just been reckoning on a quiet evening, because I feel that I’ve overloaded my stomach!” moaned Uncle Catullus. “
Egypt will be the death of me!
”
Love is strong, but wisdom is stronger.
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“They were one,” repeated the prophet. “My son, your soul is sick. It is sick with sorrow and love.
Love is strong, but wisdom is stronger.
Gather wisdom, my son. My child, I can see into your soul. I see it lying tortured and trembling.”
Everything vanishes, all is vanity: thy wisdom alone, O Neith, is needful to man!
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and scattered and vanished are their sarcophagi; and one day these pyramids themselves will be scattered and vanished, swallowed up in the lap of the earth!
Everything vanishes, all is vanity: thy wisdom alone, O Neith, is needful to man!
”
Fortune is blind and fate is a riddle and we poor mortals are the playthings of the cruel gods; and we never know, in the midst of our delight and gladness, what is hanging over our heads
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and your arms feel hard and your eyes are bright and your mouth is laughing happily and you look very different from what you were when we left Baiae. … Ah, my dear, dear Lucius!
Fortune is blind and fate is a riddle and we poor mortals are the playthings of the cruel gods; and we never know, in the midst of our delight and gladness, what is hanging over our heads
… especially when travelling, dear boy: my dear boy, especially when travelling!”
All quotes
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Chapter II
Change of diet is the secret of good health.
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I am tired of Rome and Baiae; I am really tired of roast peacock and oysters. Nothing but Rome and roast peacock; nothing but Baiae and oysters: I shall end by turning into a peacock or an oyster!
Change of diet is the secret of good health.
I was losing my gaiety and had not a joke left in me to charm an occasional laugh out of Lucius. He did not even listen to me, Cora, when I was witty … and you expect him to listen to your song!
Chapter III
The highest philosophy is … to be satisfied with little,
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“
The highest philosophy is … to be satisfied with little,
” he then said, plainly, in pure Greek.
Life is but a dream, death is a bridge and eternity is life.
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And great Isis has appeared to them as the splendour of truth, for she lifted her veil for their delight, so that they saw her.
Life is but a dream, death is a bridge and eternity is life.
”
Chapter V
She has merely read my own thoughts! No more! No more!
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“
She has merely read my own thoughts! No more! No more!
”
Chapter VII
Egypt will be the death of me!
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“And I had just been reckoning on a quiet evening, because I feel that I’ve overloaded my stomach!” moaned Uncle Catullus. “
Egypt will be the death of me!
”
Chapter X
Love is strong, but wisdom is stronger.
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“They were one,” repeated the prophet. “My son, your soul is sick. It is sick with sorrow and love.
Love is strong, but wisdom is stronger.
Gather wisdom, my son. My child, I can see into your soul. I see it lying tortured and trembling.”
Serve wisdom, but honour love.
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“I am wisdom, child, and you are young.
Serve wisdom, but honour love.
”
Chapter XI
Whom I love, Caleb … but as the flower loves the sun, as the moth loves the star … from afar and from the depths … without hope.
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“
Whom I love, Caleb … but as the flower loves the sun, as the moth loves the star … from afar and from the depths … without hope.
”
Chapter XIV
I am afraid of liberty and of the big city.
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“My lord,” she begged, “suffer me to remain here, near the barge.
I am afraid of liberty and of the big city.
”
Chapter XV
They were like eternal lines drawn by the gods from earth to heaven.
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Lucius turned, with real interest. There on the horizon, like an enormous, mystic geometry, the triangles of the Pyramids, which announced Memphis, rose against the pink morning sky.
They were like eternal lines drawn by the gods from earth to heaven.
“The Pyramids!” echoed Lucius, as though overcome by a mystic impression.
Chapter XVI
How small we are when we look into the past … and when we gaze into the centuries, the centuries that have buried themselves so deeply!
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“This all happened here!” he said, startled and arrested. “This is all … the past! The age-old past, which is gone, which was swallowed up by the sands … thousands of years ago! …
How small we are when we look into the past … and when we gaze into the centuries, the centuries that have buried themselves so deeply!
”
Chapter XVII
Everything vanishes, all is vanity: thy wisdom alone, O Neith, is needful to man!
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and scattered and vanished are their sarcophagi; and one day these pyramids themselves will be scattered and vanished, swallowed up in the lap of the earth!
Everything vanishes, all is vanity: thy wisdom alone, O Neith, is needful to man!
”
Chapter XVIII
It was a night of twinkling stars!
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“
It was a night of twinkling stars!
” cried the prophet. “It was thirty years ago! I lived in my cave, as I do now! And I knew everything and I looked Neith in the face and in the eyes. … Along the road, yonder, through the sands … they came!
What do I want with dead gold!
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“Gold!” cried the prophet, laughing like thunder. “
What do I want with dead gold!
I have seen living gold; I have seen the Child That was radiant gold as the sun itself, radiant as the burning bush! What do I want with dead gold!”
Chapter XXIV
The unplumbed depth of the past made Lucius’ sensitive mind turn giddy.
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Their names alone were still extant, written on cracking or mutilated obelisks, but their history lingered only in a few disputed legends.
The unplumbed depth of the past made Lucius’ sensitive mind turn giddy.
Yet, as he wandered by Thrasyllus’ side through the endless forsaken halls and rooms and courts, here dark with shadow, there lighted by the spectral moon, he was charmed by the sombre beauty and grandeur of that giddy depth.
Chapter XXVI
Because then you have returned; and I feel safest where you are.
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“
Because then you have returned; and I feel safest where you are.
”
Chapter XXVII
Fortune is blind and fate is a riddle and we poor mortals are the playthings of the cruel gods; and we never know, in the midst of our delight and gladness, what is hanging over our heads
Show the passage
and your arms feel hard and your eyes are bright and your mouth is laughing happily and you look very different from what you were when we left Baiae. … Ah, my dear, dear Lucius!
Fortune is blind and fate is a riddle and we poor mortals are the playthings of the cruel gods; and we never know, in the midst of our delight and gladness, what is hanging over our heads
… especially when travelling, dear boy: my dear boy, especially when travelling!”
For there was still a long, long, long papyrus scroll of a bill awaiting payment, for the big hunts in the Ethiopian forests!
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And Caleb, who had been listening at the door, turned very pale.
For there was still a long, long, long papyrus scroll of a bill awaiting payment, for the big hunts in the Ethiopian forests!
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