Dave Isay > Quotes

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling into at night. I miss you like hell.”
― Dave Isay, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps

“And it feels good to feel young with you, and at the same time to grow old with you. And it's all those things together at the same moment.”
― Dave Isay, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps

“Aunts are to be a pattern and example to all aunts; to be a delight to boys (and girls) and a comfort to their parents; and to show that at least one daughter in every generation ought to remain unmarried, and raise the profession of auntship to a fine art.”
― Dave Isay, Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project

“I love my passengers. I remember one woman in particular--a senior who had gotten on my bus. She seemed completely lost. She said she was going to a restaurant on City Island Avenue. I could see she was confused. There was just something about her. She looked so elegant, but with a fur coat on a hot summer day, so I said, 'Are you okay?' and she said, 'I'm fine, but I don't know what restaurant I'm meeting my friends at.' I said, 'Get on. Sit in the front.' I asked a gentleman to get up so she could sit near me, and I said, 'I'll run in and I'll check each restaurant for you.'
So I checked the restaurants and no luck, but at the very, very last restaurant on the left, I said, 'It's got to be this one. Let me swing the bus around,' and I swung it around. I said, 'Don't move. Let me make sure this is the place before you get out.'It was a hot day, and she's got fur on. She could pass out. So I said, 'Stay here, sweetie. It's nice and cool in here.' I went in and I said 'There's a lady in the bus and she's not sure of the restaurant,' and I saw a whole bunch of seniors there and they said, 'Oh, that's her!'
I ran back to the bus and I said, 'sweetie, your restaurant is right here.' I said, 'Let me kneel the bus.' Kneeling the bus means I bring it closer to the ground so she gets off easier. And I said, 'Don't move.' I remember my right hand grabbed her right hand. I wanted to make her feel special, like it was a limousine. It was a bus, but I wanted to make her feel like it was a limousine. And she said, 'I have been diagnosed with cancer--but today is the best day of my life.'
And I've never forgotten that woman (Weeping). She's diagnosed with cancer and just because I helped her off the bus, she said she felt like Cinderella. Can't get better than that. And doing your job and getting paid to do a job where you can do something special like that? It's pretty awesome.”
― Dave Isay

“And I always say that to the children: “You are the greatest thing I ever did in my life!”
― Dave Isay, Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps

“There are times when we can be so annoyed at each other, Elliot, and we yell at each other. But when push comes to shove, we let it go, and we're back to our normal selves, because being unhappy is part of being happy. When two people get married, they say two people become one. No, I don't agree. Two people should remain two people but walk side by side. I've not become Elliot. Elliot has not become Hunny. We remain Hunny and Elliot. And to me, that's important.”
― Dave Isay, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps

“I didn't give you this life, honey. They took to you because of who you are. You gave yourself this life.”
― David Isay, Outloud: Stories from the LGBTQ community, gathered by StoryCorps and heard on NPR

“I consider you mine, because Donna considered you hers.”
― David Isay, Outloud: Stories from the LGBTQ community, gathered by StoryCorps and heard on NPR

“Thanks for teaching us to talk. Thanks for teaching us to be of the world and in the world and to make our way. Thanks for teaching us to be alive! And thanks for staying inside of us.”
― Dave Isay, Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project

“They loved. They had friends. They were alive. They didn't see the world, but they saw their world--which maybe is better than seeing the world.”
― Dave Isay, Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project

“If they ever let me in those pearly gates, I'm going to walk all over God's heaven until I find that girl. And the first thing I'm going to do is ask her if she would marry me, and do it all over again.”
― Dave Isay, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps