Damon Galgut Quotes

Things happen once only and are never repeated, never return. Except in memory.

The only way you can be universal is to be sure you are very specifically local.

He feared at certain moments that the only new knowledge he would take away from this country was learning how to swim and use the telephone.

All of them would understand, as he did now, that he had crossed a line in himself, he had left their world behind, the decent world of tea parties and suburban witticisms.

What he sensed more than anything else was kindness – a kindness of a human and immediate sort. It was surprising how very radical this simple emotion could be.

The Indians were inside their bodies, he decided, in a way that the British were not. His own flesh impeded his spirit.

I am happy to see you, Maso

Goldie was a believer in the imperial project, which is to say, in the civilising power of social progress.

It is always an attractive moment when curiosity takes hold.

A silence followed, while the two men contemplated dying for love.

What I don’t understand about your type is that you want to emulate the other side. You kick up such a commotion about being different, and all you want is to be the same.

Of what earthly use were novels? How did they help anybody?

There are many monsters, oh, many!

Stationery gets me excited because it has an individual character, unlike computers, which may be convenient but are generic and bland.