List of Epigraphs in Persephone’s Underground, a new novel by Rickey Pittman,
Bard of the South
Readers who have followed my writing, know I like to use epigraphs to set tone, create a mood, or pique curiosity about the chapters that follow them. Here is a list of the epigraphs I used in the construction of this novel which is a mystery, a thriller, and references the famous legend of a goddess. I hope you willl find something in thist to help your thinking and your own writing.
Midway upon life’s journey tardily/I realized that I had lost my way/Within a dark wood and no more could see/The proper path. —Inferno Canto I
In the dangerous world of bounty hunting where
every merc has a mark and every prey
has its price. —Kayleena Pierce Bohen
After a few months in my parents’ basement, I took an apartment near the state university, where I discovered both crystal methamphetamine and conceptual art. Either one of these things are dangerous, but in combination they have the potential to destroy entire civilizations.” ― David Sedaris
No disease is more dangerous than a bad husband —Sabrina Jeffries
Worse than drugs is drug trafficking. Much worse. —José Mujica
TELEPHONE n. An invention of the devil, which abrogates some of theadvantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance. —Ambrose Bierce
And they said: If a man commit murder/ Should his father protect him and hidehim?/And Kung said: / He should hide him —Canto XIII, Ezra Pound
I realize now that I wanted to disappear. To get so lost that nobody ever found. To go so far away that I’d never be able to make my way home again. But I have no idea why. ― Jessica Warman, Between
The truth may be buried, but it can never stay buried forever. —The Book of Cold Cases
We are all debts owed to death —Simonides, Greek Lyric Poet
It was a time when we were happy. It was a time when we had souls.
—”Love’s Always in Color”
In mythology, Hades is depicted as stern and pitiless, unmoved by prayer, pity, or sacrifice.
A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. —“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath
There was nothing in the dark that wasn’t there when the lights were on. —The Twilight Zone Episode 6, “Nothing in the Dark.”
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,/And Mourners to and fro—Emily Dickinson
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. —George Bernard Shaw
I am not sure who you think I am.—Scarlet St. Clair, A Touch of Malice
Every hooker’s got a hard luck story.—Eddie Jillette in No Mercy
I’ve seen the future, brother/ It is murder.—Leonard Cohen
The road to Angola may well be paved over the road to hell. A young man is better off dead, there’s no doubt, for there’s a road to Angola, but there is no road out. —Micki Furman
For God speaketh once, Yea twice, though man regardeth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed. —Job 33:14-15, American Standard Version.
I wonder if we’ll ever be put into songs or tales —Lord of the Rings
At the door of every bridal bedchamber an angel stands, smiling, with a finger to his lips.–Les Misérables
Listen to the hummingbird whose wings you cannot see./ Listen to the hummingbird, don’t listen to me.—Leonard Cohen
Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness and still become something beautiful.—Author unknown
Anam cara in the Celtic world is the word for “soul friend.” In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam cara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life.—John O’Donahue
Some ghosts are so quiet you would hardly know they were there.—Bernie Mcgill
Let me be mad, then, by all means! Mad with the madness of Absinthe.—Marie Corelli
To fight evil, you have to understand the dark.—Nalini Singh\
Now if I don’t meet you no more in this world, then I’ll, I’ll meet you in the next one, and don’t be late, don’t be late, cause I’m a voodoo chile.—Jimi Hendrix
The cards tell a story…but you write the ending.—Theresa Reed
The past is not dead and buried. It’s not even past.—William Faulkner
The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds – the cemeteries – and they’re a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchers—palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay—ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who’ve died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn’t pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time.—Bob Dylan
There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.— Ernest Hemingway
Keeping things the way they’ve always been.—Motto of Cafe Du Monde
Evil is a true thing in Mexico. It goes about on its own legs. Maybe some day it will come to you. Maybe it already has—Cormac McCarthy
Lithoboly is the mysterious rain and hails of stones sent by stone-throwing demons.
Legends say that anyone who sees the rougarou and lives will be cursed with bad luck and misfortune.
Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever.—Aleksander Hemon
I believe the sicario “is going to be a part of our future. Killers like him are multiplying…He is a pioneer of a new type of person: the human who kills and expects to be killed and has little hope or complaint.”—Charles Bowden from El Sicario.
Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.—Paul Gauguin
The wise man sees the coming evil and hides himself.—Proverbs 27:12
“Perhaps he makes a choice. He chooses the memory of her. That’s why he turns. He doesn’t make the lover’s choice, but the poet’s.” ― Céline Sciamma
And quiet is the thought of you, the file on you complete, except what we forgot to do, a thousand kisses deep.—Leonard Cohen