And the cavern of fire was enormous, labyrinthine, that received the man. He branched and flamed, glowed and increased, and was suddenly extinguished in the little puffs of smoke and tired thoughts.

— Patrick White

As it is, I'm a dated novelist, whom hardly anybody reads, or if they do, most of them don't understand what I am on about. Certainly I wish I had never written Loss, which is going to be everybody's albatross.

— Patrick White

At times his arrogance did resolve itself into simplicity, though it was difficult, especially for strangers, to distinguish these occasions.

— Patrick White

But the purpose and nature are never clearly revealed. Human behavior is a series of lunges, of which, it is sometimes sensed, the direction is inevitable.

— Patrick White

He himself, he realized, had always been most abominably frightened, even at the height of his divine power, a frail god upon a rickety throne, afraid of opening letters, of making decisions, afraid of the instinctive knowledge in the eyes of mules, of the innocent eyes of good men, of the elastic nature of the passions, even of the devotion he had received from some men, and one woman, and dogs.

— Patrick White

His legend will be written down, eventually, by those who are troubled by it.

— Patrick White

I am compelled into this country.

— Patrick White

I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I have learned.

— Patrick White

If truth is not acceptable, it becomes the imagination of others.

— Patrick White

In general,' Loss replied, 'it is necessary to communicate without knowledge of the language.

— Patrick White