Elizabeth Mckenzie > Quotes

“By clearly emphasizing all that was lacking in others, by mapping and raising to an art form the catalog of their flaws, Veblen’s mother had inversely punched out a template for an ideal human being, and it was the unspoken assumption that Veblen would aspire to this template with all her might.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Thorstein Veblen would say people hate squirrels, she called up to him, "because that's the only way to motivate expenditure on them - such as buying traps or guns. It's the same with stirring up patriotic emotionalism, because it justifies expenditures for defense.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“When you entered the cavern of another language, you could leave certain people behind, for they had no interest in following you in. You could, by way of translation, emerge from the cavern and share your adventures with them. You didn’t have to be an intellectual in a black beret smoking clove cigarettes to be a translator, not at all. You could become one in your blue flannel pajamas, your face smeared with Clearsil. You did.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“A life could be spent like an apology—to prove you had been worth it.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“We employed a stocky Yorkshire woman to walk me home from school past the barbershop with the unhappy mynah bird. "Kill me!" it suggested as we passed by.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, Stop That Girl: A Novel in Stories

“Art is despair with dignity.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“The Flying squirrel flies, and the Irksome squirrel irks. The Spinning squirrel spins and the Smirking squirrel smirks. The Crapulous craps and the Lurking lurks; But when the Talking squirrel talks, none but a Listening Human works.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Do you think wishful thinking is a psychiatric condition?”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“While we're talking about my dreams, about how I'm gloomy and combative, and about displacing those feelings onto my pillow instead of my loved ones.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, Stop That Girl: A Novel in Stories

“He says marriage is a continuous inevitable confrontation that can be resolved only through death.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“She had once concluded everyone on earth was a servant to the previous generation—born from the body’s factory for entertainment and use. A life could be spent like an apology—to prove you had been worth it.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“It is one kind of trouble to kiss your fiancé good-bye in the morning and immediately turn your thoughts to another man. But it's another kind altogether if the other man has been dead for nine decades, or is of the genus Sciurus.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Are you committed to having a really strange life?"

She laughed. "Probably. What do you mean?”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“She counted on herself to withstand everything. And yet, who said she had to? What would happen if she broke down now and then?”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“See? You're using the stoic glacier method."

"Remind me, what's the stoic glacier method?"

"It's the slow process of shaping someone's behavior by force of one's own personal stoicism.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“She had a lot of practice standing things because she had to stand them, which was a hard habit to break.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“She'd let her eyes water so the view was blurry, which gave certain qualities of the world neglected by clear eyesight the chance to come forth, such as the shocking beauty of color, and she remembered this with compassion for that silly young self, which had deserved to have her hand held.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“And from a branch in the tall tree, a small gray squirrel released a mighty roar.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“This town is infested with squirrels, have you noticed?"

"I'd rather say it's rich with squirrels.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Veblen, you may not know it now, but marriage affects everything that happens to you. Your mate becomes the mirror in which you see yourself. If he doesn't see you as a beautiful pearl, you'll wither.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“If you love it enough, anything will talk with you.” —G. W. CARVER”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“And yet - with those well-marked whiskers, and that topcoat, and the notable scruff, a squirrel who cared and followed you everywhere - wouldn't that be nice?”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“That until now she was a Christmas tree that had been decorated by someone who hated Christmas.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“It bothered Veblen’s mother that most people were lazy and had given up original thought a long time ago, stealing stale phrases from the media like magpies.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“HER OWN VISION of the future was of happiness in the air. Something was baking. Children were playing games. There were flowers and substantial trees, and birds were singing in their nests. She was living with someone who was laughing.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Scandia’s,”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Dog of the North

“William Morris, her mother’s hero, had blind spots. He was seen as effete and ridiculous by Professor Veblen after he paid Morris a visit in England. Veblen came home and blasted Morris’s Kelmscott Press and the whole Arts and Crafts movement for producing overly precious items for the wealthy, the only ones who could afford them—decadent aestheticism, he called it.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“While she was by temperament very forgiving to others, she was not inclined to be generous to herself. Nothing offended her more than her own faults, which seemed to be revealing themselves lately with alarming frequency. She was muted and superstitious, stunted and weak, and if she spent much more time thinking about it, she’d have a list that rolled out the door on a scroll. There was no perfect being out there, accepting, intelligent, kind, creative, full of life and appetite. Muckraker, carouser, sweet-toothed, lion-hearted. Or was there? 23”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“After all, it was unrealistic to expect Paul to be her twin, to think they would react the same way in every situation, always be in the same mood, though there was no denying she craved that. She must withstand all differences, no matter how wrenching and painful. For instance, Paul didn’t like corn on the cob. Of all things! How could a person not like fresh, delicious corn on the cob? And how could she not care? “I don’t like biting the cob and the kernels taste pasty to me,” Paul had told her. “Pasty? Then you’ve had really bad corn. Good corn isn’t pasty.” “Don’t get mad. It’s not like corn is your personal invention.” “But it’s impossible. Everyone likes it.” “People with dentures don’t like it.” “What are you trying to say? Do you have dentures?” “No! I’m just saying they are a sizable slice of the population.” “Not anymore. These days most people get implants.” “Not in rural areas.” “Okay, fine, whatever! But eating corn together, we’ll never be able to do that?” “I like other vegetables!” Paul practically yelled. “Corn is more than a vegetable, it’s practically a national icon.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

“Who cares if she called you?” Veblen cried out. There was a time when abreacting to her mother was out of the question, untenable. The slightest ripple between them terrified her. She was aware that her mother had trained her to turn herself inside out, like a pocket to be inspected for pilfered change.”
― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen