Isabel Miller > Quotes

“And I felt, I think for the first time, a rage against men. Not because they could say, "I'm going," and go. Not because they could go to college and become lawyers or preachers while women could only be drudge or ornament but nothing between. Not because they could be parents at no cost to their bodies. But because when they love a woman they may be with her, and all society will protect their possession of her.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“In your eyes I see myself become what I always dreamed I could be.”
― Isabel Miller

“When the Indians saw us whipping our children, they thought at first that we must hate our children, but then they thought, no, no one can hate his child. They decided it must be a religious rite, to make the child hate this world and long for the next. We're a strange vicious people.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“I began to wonder if what makes men walk so lordlike and speak so masterfully is having the love of women. If that was it, Sarah and I would make lords of each other.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“Who is this cautious unhoping young woman? Where is the hero who bore such batterings for love and stood up before witnesses to ask me to be a hero too? And I am a hero now. Can't you see? We can be an army of two. We can be Plato's perfect army: lovers, who will never behave dishonorably in each other's sight, and invincible. Let the world either kill us or grow accustomed to us; here we stand.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“So when I let my head fall back under Sarah’s kiss, the frenzy I trembled at just wasn’t there. Instead, comfort and joy and simplicity and order and answers to questions I’d always supposed unanswerable, such as, why was I born? why a woman? why here? why now?
A wonderful glowing spacious peacefulness came to us. There was so much time.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“Let the world either kill us or grow accustomed to us; here we stand.”
― Isabel Miller

“Faith is the belief that this life is not our only chance. Wavering of faith means beginning to believe in this life and wanting to live it, denying all duties and dashing off uncontrolled.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“I looked on up to her eyes and held there steady, thinking pretty soon she’d look away, and then when I knew she wouldn’t the silver thread our eyes were joined by began to hum like far-off bees. I felt my soul melt and flow out along it. I felt my heart melt and drip off my fingertips.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“I am making firpins for you, which I measured you for from memory -- one hand here and the other hand here is how far? The firpins will be bolder than I and touch you where I have not. They will caress your body all day, as my lucky ambassador -- lieutenant -- proxy -- and at unexpected, inconvenient times you will remember to feel their touch, which is my touch, and your heart will pound. My heart is pounding at the thought. It is the sort of problem I like for us to have.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“We can be an army of two. We can be Plato's perfect army: lovers, who will never behave dishonorably in each other's sight, and invincible. Let the world either kill us or grow accustomed to us; here we stand.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“It breaks my heart to think of childhood, everybody bigger and whacking and shouting and teaching you not to reach for anything or look at anything, and not letting up on you till you get over wanting to.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“We'd been here a week when we moved inside. The corn was planted, the garden was planted. And now we too were planted, to see what grew of us.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience and Sarah

“Best would have been if I’d died, I guess, but there wasn’t much chance of that, not right off anyway... Next best was to make me want to die, but I had enough spite in me to want to live, usually.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah

“Where are we, high or deep? 'Heaven,' she says. We're high then. We stay here so long, like gulls that don't have to move to stay up.”
― Isabel Miller, Patience & Sarah