Thomas Hardy - Mark Twain - Adrienne Haythornwhite - Joan Corke - J D Salinger - Martin Luther - Carl Sagan - Paul Cezanne -
‘Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?’
‘Yes.’
‘All like ours?’
‘I don’t know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound – a few blighted.’
‘Which do we live on – a splendid one or a blighted one?’
‘A blighted one.’ Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Ubervilles
Adam was not human – this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake; he wanted it only because it was forbidden. Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894
I was awakened by this strange noise, and then I heard it on top of the roof. Thudding, a frightening thudding noise ... All these apples was coming down. As far as I can see they were coming straight from the sky ... It wasn’t windy that night or rainy. Adrienne Haythornwhite, Accrington Lancashire
Apples! There seemed to be thousands of them. They were in her garden, but only in her garden. There were Bramleys, there were Coxes, some were whole, some were embedded. Joan Corke, neighbour
I’ve never seen such a bunch of apple-eaters. J D Salinger, Nine Stories
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. Martin Luther
If you wish to make an apple-pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Carl Sagan, Cosmos
With an apple I will astonish Paris. Paul Cézanne