The Women at the Pump
Knut Hamsun
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Off Sundays the blacksmith put on his best clothes and went for a quiet walk about the town and its environs. He was not a churchgoer, but he was an honest and religious man, with a thousand sins of which he repented, and a thousand of God's blessings which gladdened his heart.”
“When she opened her eyes, he gave a sudden cry and smashed his clenched fist a couple of times into her wet bottom. His joy was transformed into momentary fury. Otherwise, he never beat his children. That was the mother's job.”
“Was there something of the deamer, or a certain dignity, about Abel? Not a scrap. A tiny squirrel, as quick as lightning, a daredevil with every limb in a state of commotion. He would be seen simultaneously up by the church and down on the shore; he never walked if there was the faintest possibility of running. It was hurry hurry, his great boots thundering along the street.”
“Thus, he walks and walks in his wilderness, a futile, foolish trek made not in order to arrive somewhere but simply and solely in order to be one of those who walk in the wilderness. And this work of his is a life sentence.”
“There he goes, limping home. He is somewhat disabled, a trifle imperfect in himself; but what is perfection? The life of the town realizes its image in him: a crawling life, but none the less busy for that.”
“The elderly remember bygone days and dates, they have a wonderful way of hoarding in their heads all manner of trifles as if they were valuable, as if they might one day stand them in good stead.”
“Small things and great occur; a tooth falls from the mouth, a man out of the ranks, a sparrow to the ground.”
“Petra doesn't answer, doesn't look at him, she is so weary of his talk and of his person. Oh, that lump of fat in the chair—it breathes, it wears clothes that someone has sewn, it has buttons on its clothes; on its upper end it has a hat, tilted at an angle. She knows it all inside out, the sprawling wooden leg that projects into the narrow room and blocks the way, his conversation, all the lies, the bombast, the voice that grows more and more like a woman's, the lusterless, watery-blue gaze, the mouth that is perpetually moist. Year by year he seems to be going to pieces; only his appetite remains intact. And there isn't always enough to eat.”
“Oliver was made of sterner stuff, less delicate and sensitive, more carefree, in short, the right human clay; he could endure life. Who had taken a harder knock than he? But a tiny upward turn in his fortunes, a lucky theft, a successful swindle, restored him to contentment.”
“Oliver was far from fretting: he was in good bodily health, the bad weather allowed him to remain in idleness, his industry had deserted him.”
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Book Keywords:
sunday, sins, children, imperfect-life, great-things, pointless, youth, husband, elderly, contentment, idleness, blessings, running, small-things, hurry, days-and-dates, last-line, oliver, wilderness, fury
