Bess Kalb > Quotes

“When the earth is cracking behind your feet and it feels like the whole world is going to swallow you up, you put one foot in front of the other and you keep going. You go forward. And do you know what happens if you don’t? No. Ha! Neither do I, angel. Neither do I.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Bessie, if you try on a dress and you don’t immediately want to parade outside the dressing room and show it off to everyone in the store, take it off and forget it ever existed.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“If you’re born a man and halfway decent at something, everyone will tell you you’re great.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“If you’re having a rotten day, go buy yourself an ice cream soda and a new hat.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Bessie, beware of men who have gone their whole lives without hearing the word "no.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story

“Everyone needs the dress that makes her feel like she’s able to do anything she wants.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Just listen to them. Hear my voice. I’m right there, in your phone, in your bag. I’ll wait. Listen to them. I’m slipping from you. Fading. It’s terrible to fade. I could be very close. In your ear, clear as a bell, asking you to call me back.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Why should we all wrap ourselves in kitchen wallpaper just because Diane von Furstenberg married up and got handed a fashion label?”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Bubbalah, when the earth is cracking behind your feet, you go forward. One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Her daughter became a doctor. Her daughter would have a daughter, me. · · · She and I would fall in love. We’d speak in songs: “My angel, my angel, you saved my life.” We’d have secrets and hiding places and code words. We’d talk about our hair until we fell asleep. We’d watch old movies and read new books. We’d cry for no reason. We’d cry for every reason all at once. We’d said everything that ever occurred to us to each other, even if it was nothing, or mean, or so mean it was crazy. We’d eat the same foods at exactly the same rates in exactly the same ways. We never said goodbye, always “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Three times. Never enough. “If you ever have a daughter,” she’d tell me, “I declare her a force.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“When she stepped off the boat, we all became possible.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“Writing a book is just talking to yourself and snacks.”
― Bess Kalb

“To the love of my life. May she always get what she wants, whether I like it or not.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“I didn't have the perfect motherly instinct, because I was mourning the loss of a life I never had a change to live. I'm not excusing myself. And I"m not saying I'm sorry. I'm just saying how it was.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story

“Bessie, when you come into an enormous amount of money very quickly, you have to do everything you can to make it seem like you've had it for ten generations." - Bobby after she describes the extent to which she decorated their new house in Ardsley”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story

“And there was one thing I could do about it: nudge. Remember, you can always nudge.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“To die with every memory alive. Every memory in you. Every story to tell. My story. And my mother's story. And your mother's story. And your story. And your child's. And for your to live so much and then for you to die. And to leave the stories behind, to scatter them in the wind. The myths and the legends and the truth and the heart. And they'll live on and so will I.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story

“You’ll look at the ground and it will become very clear that I’m not there. What have I always told you, Bessie? What have I always said? You’re my angel. I am you. I’m the bones in your body and the blood that fills you up and the meat around your legs. I’m the softness of your cheeks and the way they freckle in the summer, and I’m the streaks of rust in your hair, and I’m the nose under your nose and the eyes that narrow with fire and roll backward in delight at all the same things. I’m your style. I’m your laugh. I’m the rage in your heart that I’m not here. You’re the body I left behind. I made sure of that. From the moment I met you, I never stopped telling you my stories. Because nobody will write them but you.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“What have I always told you, Bessie? What have I always said? You’re my angel. I am you. I’m the bones in your body and the blood that fills you up and the meat around your legs. I’m the softness of your cheeks and the way they freckle in the summer, and I’m the streaks of rust in your hair, and I’m the nose under your nose and the eyes that narrow with fire and roll backward in delight at all the same things. I’m your style. I’m your laugh. I’m the rage in your heart that I’m not here. You’re the body I left behind.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as told to me) Story: 'I loved this book more than I can say' Nigella Lawson

“the”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“If the earth is cracking behind you right up to your heels, put one foot in front of the other. You keep going. Nothing's as important as moving forward.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story

“She’d call me shayna punim, “beautiful face,” which made me laugh.”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

“abdication”
― Bess Kalb, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story