Some do not...: A novel

“If he had uttered the word “come” she would have followed him to the bitter ends of the earth; if he had said, “There is no hope,” she would have known the finality of despair.””

— Ford Madox Ford

“She asked herself the eternal question – and she knew it to be the eternal question – whether no man and woman can ever leave it at the beautiful inclination.””

— Ford Madox Ford

“If you live among dogs they'll think you've the motives of a dog. What other motives can they give you ?””

— Ford Madox Ford

“But, in these later days, much greater convulsions had overwhelmed her. It sufficed for Tietjens to approach her to make her feel as if her whole body was drawn towards him as, being near a terrible height, you are drawn towards it. Great waves of blood rushed across her being as if physical forces as yet undiscovered or invented attracted the very fluid itself. The moon so draws the tides.””

— Ford Madox Ford

“You and I are like two people . . .' He paused and began again more quickly: 'Do you know these soap advertisement signs that read differently from several angles? As you come up to them you read "Monkey's Soap"; if you look back when you've passed it's "Needs no Rinsing." . . . You and I are standing at different angles and though we both look at the same thing we read different messages. Perhaps if we stood side by side we should see yet third. . . . But I hope we respect each other.””

— Ford Madox Ford

“It is, in fact, asking for trouble if you are more altruist than the society that surrounds you””

— Ford Madox Ford

“The exact eye: exact observation: it was a man's work. The onlywork for a man. Why then were artists soft: effeminate: not men at all:whilst the army officer, who had the inexact mind of the schoolteacher,was a manly man? Quite a manly man: until he became an old woman!””

— Ford Madox Ford

“My dear, it couldn’t have lasted for ever … But you’re a good man. And very clever… . You will get through….””

— Ford Madox Ford

“But why was he born to be a sort of lonely buffalo: outside the herd? Not artist: not soldier: not bureaucrat: not certainly indispensable anywhere: apparently not even sound in the eyes of these dim-minded specialists… An exact observer…””

— Ford Madox Ford