# Quote — Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano

> There was no callousness in their faces, no cruelty. Death they knew, better than the law, and their memories were long. They sat ranked now, motionless, frozen, discussing nothing, without a word, turned to stone. It was natural to have left the matter to the men. And yet, in these old women it was as if, through the various tragedies of Mexican history, pity, the impulse to approach, and terror, the impulse to escape (as one had learned at college), having replaced it, had finally been reconciled by prudence, the conviction it is better to stay where you are.

- Author: [Malcolm Lowry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry.md)
- Book: [Under the Volcano](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano.md)
- Page: 248
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_Lowry#Under_the_Volcano_(1947)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano/there-was-no-callousness

## More from this book

> Translation: You can´t live without loving.

p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano/translation-you-can-t.md)

> What beauty can compare to that of a cantina in the early morning?

p. 49 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano/what-beauty-can.md)

> The poor old creature seemed now indeed like someone being drawn, lured, into events of which he has no real comprehension, by people with whom he wishes to be friendly, even to play, who entice him by encouraging that wish and by whom, because they really despise and desire to humilate him, he is finally entangled.

p. 259 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano/the-poor-old.md)