who, as Edwin Arnold relates,
“[W]ith equanimity surveys
Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth
Of ignorance, not angry if they are,
Not wishful when they are not ... who sits
A sojourner and stranger in their midst
Unruffled, standing off, saying—serene—
When troubles break, ‘These be the Qualities!’”
Alexander Rostov in Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow
Conrad Hensley in Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full
Ainsely Fothergill in James Hilton’s Knight Without Armour:
“The journey was tiring, but worse for others than for himself, for his body, like his mind, seemed only capable of half-sensations. For years he had been unaware of this, but now, in a world of men and women, he perceived and was puzzled by it; he found himself doing things in a curious dream-like way, as if part of him were asleep and were obeying the other part automatically. Even when he talked, he heard his own voice as if it were another person speaking; and when he felt tiredness, or hunger, or a physical ache, the sensation came to him slowly, incompletely, almost at secondhand.”
Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days:
“He was so exact that he was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was economical alike of his steps and his motions. He never took one step too many, and always went to his destination by the shortest cut; he made no superfluous gestures, and was never seen to be moved or agitated. He was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always reached his destination at the exact moment.”
Salvor Hardin in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation:
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
Rupert Psmith in P.G. Wodehouse’s Psmith in the City:
“Psmith had a way of treating unpleasant situations as if he were merely playing at them for his own amusement. Psmith’s attitude towards the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune was to regard them with a bland smile, as if they were part of an entertainment got up for his express benefit.”
See also Descriptive book titles that obviate the need to read the book.
/misc | Aug 26, 2020