We exchanged a few remarks about life, in words whose superficiality did not in the least detract from their strength. (I have since learned that simple words sometimes convey more intense truths than others.)
- Francois Bizot, The Gate
I wonder if the old folks realized, before they gave it, that I wouldn't appreciate their time and attention, or if they had lived so long that they understood they were planting seeds for a garden they would never enjoy.
- Tim Gautreaux, "Left-Handed Love", from A Few Thousand Words Above Love
"He loved you a lot, you know," she said. And Jonah had watched as her eyes grew a film of water, as she looked past his face, out the window. "It's kind of dangerous, to be loved that much by somebody. It's hard to recover from it. It's not as if you're going to run across someone else who feels that intensely about you."
"I know," Jonah said, uncertainly, and she ran the pads of her fingers along the back of his hand, making a sigh that slid into his heart like a fishhook.
- Dan Chaon, You Remind Me of Me
Literature, though, isn't supposed to be a convenient shopping experience. It's a solitary imaginative endeavor aimed at arousing the anguish hidden inside of us, the bad news of our hearts.
- Steve Almond, "Dear Oprah", (Not That You Asked)
The day shone brilliantly white. Sky and earth became one, trees outstretched their naked limbs, snow drifts shifted shapes--washing away to reveal tufts of briar.
How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface, to make a map of my movement-- no matter how temporary.
- Craig Thompson, Blankets
She thought she'd put up with however many years of stonewalling for a good reason, and she'd just figured out that as far as Castle Hubby went, she hadn't even crossed the moat yet.
Because here's the thing we hadn't talked about, nose to nose on our pillows in the dark: how I've never been closer to anyone isn't the same as We're so close. That night I threw the drink, she asked why I was so perfect for the black world, and I wanted to tell her, How am I not perfect for it? It's a sinkhole for resources. Everyone involved with it obsesses about it all the time. Even what the insiders know about it is incomplete. Whatever stories you do get arrive without context. What's not inconclusive is enigmatic, what's not enigmatic is unreliable, and what's not unreliable is quixotic.
- Jim Shepard, "Minotaur", You Think That's Bad
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
- Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Submitted by Nikki Libby:
"...and all the love he had for her, despite her silent rages and her vague stares, came pouring through the teapot, warming her cup, filling her small, long-fingered hands"
- Amy Bloom, "Silver Water", Come To Me
Submitted by Jen:
"Immortality," said Crake, "is a concept. If you take 'mortality' as being, not death, but the foreknowledge of it and the fear of it, then 'immortality' is the absence of such fear. Babies are immortal. Edit out the fear, and you'll be..."
- Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
"I'm cold," Snowden said again in a frail, childlike voice. "I'm cold." "There, there," Yossarian said, because he did not know what else to say. "There, there."
- Catch 22, Joseph Heller
Can I meet this other individual as a person who is in the process of "becoming", or will I be bound by his past and by my past?
- On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers
- Francois Bizot, The Gate
I wonder if the old folks realized, before they gave it, that I wouldn't appreciate their time and attention, or if they had lived so long that they understood they were planting seeds for a garden they would never enjoy.
- Tim Gautreaux, "Left-Handed Love", from A Few Thousand Words Above Love
"He loved you a lot, you know," she said. And Jonah had watched as her eyes grew a film of water, as she looked past his face, out the window. "It's kind of dangerous, to be loved that much by somebody. It's hard to recover from it. It's not as if you're going to run across someone else who feels that intensely about you."
"I know," Jonah said, uncertainly, and she ran the pads of her fingers along the back of his hand, making a sigh that slid into his heart like a fishhook.
- Dan Chaon, You Remind Me of Me
Literature, though, isn't supposed to be a convenient shopping experience. It's a solitary imaginative endeavor aimed at arousing the anguish hidden inside of us, the bad news of our hearts.
- Steve Almond, "Dear Oprah", (Not That You Asked)
The day shone brilliantly white. Sky and earth became one, trees outstretched their naked limbs, snow drifts shifted shapes--washing away to reveal tufts of briar.
How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface, to make a map of my movement-- no matter how temporary.
- Craig Thompson, Blankets
She thought she'd put up with however many years of stonewalling for a good reason, and she'd just figured out that as far as Castle Hubby went, she hadn't even crossed the moat yet.
Because here's the thing we hadn't talked about, nose to nose on our pillows in the dark: how I've never been closer to anyone isn't the same as We're so close. That night I threw the drink, she asked why I was so perfect for the black world, and I wanted to tell her, How am I not perfect for it? It's a sinkhole for resources. Everyone involved with it obsesses about it all the time. Even what the insiders know about it is incomplete. Whatever stories you do get arrive without context. What's not inconclusive is enigmatic, what's not enigmatic is unreliable, and what's not unreliable is quixotic.
- Jim Shepard, "Minotaur", You Think That's Bad
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
- Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Submitted by Nikki Libby:
"...and all the love he had for her, despite her silent rages and her vague stares, came pouring through the teapot, warming her cup, filling her small, long-fingered hands"
- Amy Bloom, "Silver Water", Come To Me
Submitted by Jen:
"Immortality," said Crake, "is a concept. If you take 'mortality' as being, not death, but the foreknowledge of it and the fear of it, then 'immortality' is the absence of such fear. Babies are immortal. Edit out the fear, and you'll be..."
- Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
"I'm cold," Snowden said again in a frail, childlike voice. "I'm cold." "There, there," Yossarian said, because he did not know what else to say. "There, there."
- Catch 22, Joseph Heller
Can I meet this other individual as a person who is in the process of "becoming", or will I be bound by his past and by my past?
- On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers