Tom felt his darkness. His father was beautiful and clever, his mother was short and mathematically sure. Each of his brothers and sisters had looks or gifts or fortune. Tom loved all of them passionately, but he felt heavy and earth-bound. He climbed ecstatic mountains and floundered in the rocky darkness between the peaks. He had spurts of bravery but they were bracketed in battens of cowardice.
("East of Eden")
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Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping.
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Based on Topics: Courage Quotes, Cowardice Quotes, Fate & Destiny Quotes, Fathers Quotes, Mothers QuotesBased on Keywords: battens, bracketed, earth-bound, floundered
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