The English Patient quotes

View Quote My darling, I'm waiting for you — how long is a day in the dark, or a week? The fire is gone now, and I'm horribly cold. I really ought to drag myself outside but then there would be the sun. . . I'm afraid I waste the light on the paintings and on writing these words. We die, we die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have entered and swum up like rivers, fears we have hidden in, like this wretched cave. We are the real countries, not the boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men. I know you will come and carry me out into the palace of winds. That's all I've wanted— to walk in such a place with you, with friends, on earth without maps. [written in journal]

View Quote So. I come across the hospital convoy, I'm looking for this stuff. This nurse, Mary, tells me about you and Hana, hiding in some monastery, in what you call it — retreat - how you'd come in from the desert and you were burned and you didn't remember your name, but you knew the words to every song that ever was and you had one possession - a copy of w:Herodotus and it was filled with letters and cuttings, and then I know it was you. . . I'd seen you writing in that book. At the embassy in Cairo, when I had thumbs, and you had a face. And a name. [to Almásy]

View Quote Katharine: Shall we be all right?
Almásy: Yes. Yes. —Absolutely.
Katharine: Oh dear.

View Quote Caravaggio: You get to the morning and the poison leaks away, doesn't it? Black nights. I thought I would kill you.
Almásy: You can't kill me. I died years ago.
Caravaggio: No, I can't kill you now.

View Quote Hana: I'll probably marry him.
Almásy: Really? That's sudden.
Hana: My mother always told me I would summon my husband by playing the piano.

View Quote I think I was a pilot.

View Quote A very… plum… plum.

View Quote Its probably none of my business— your wife… do you think it is appropriate to leave her?

View Quote I once traveled with a guide who was taking me to Faya. He didn't speak for nine hours. At the end of it he pointed to the horizon and said, Faya! That was a good day. [to Katharine]

View Quote There's really no need. This is just a scrapbook. They are too good. I should feel obliged. Thank you. [to Katharine]

View Quote We planned badly. [to Katharine]

View Quote In a few minutes there'll be no stars— the air is filling with sand. [to Katharine]

View Quote Let me tell you about winds. [to Katharine]

View Quote Could I ask you, please, to paste you paintings into my book? I should like to have them. I *should be honored. [to Katharine]

View Quote Mrs. Clifton. . . I believe you still have my book. [to Katharine]