Tawni O'Dell > Quotes

“She hated her job the same way I hated my jobs because she knew she was worth more, but she also hated herself so there wasn't much point in trying to do better.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“ A man spends his whole life trying to prove his worth to others. A woman spends her life trying to prove her worth to herself.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“I wanted to end it now, like a bad TV show turned off in the middle.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“They were like English teachers who took the fun out of a perfectly good book by breaking it down into themes and sentence structures”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“I don't like phones. You can't be sure people are paying attention to you when you're talking to them.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“I've decided that the worst part of loneliness isn't being alone. It's being forgotten.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts

“I told her once I wasn't good at anything. She ran her thumb over my lips raw from kissing her and said survival was a talent.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“I’ve never had any desire to be loved. I prefer being feared. It gets the same results but without any hugging.”
― Tawni O'Dell, One of Us

“Capitalism is based on the concept that in order for someone to succeed, someone else has to suffer.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts

“Maybe over time I'll forget the feel and smell and sound of him, the same way I am starting to forget Mom, but I'll never be able to forget that he should've been here.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts

“She’s wearing the dreamy expression peculiar to the very old and the very young, where they seem fascinated by something everyone else takes for granted. People find the phenomenon adorable in babies. It means they’re inquisitive and intrigued by objects in their new world. In old people they usually chalk it up to senility, but I don’t think that’s the case. For both, it’s the ability to see things in their purest sense. All the knowledge that comes from experience doesn’t exist for a child and doesn’t matter anymore to an old lady. With a life completely in front of you or a life completely behind you, the world looks basically the same. She”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“Most people who stay do it because they’re afraid to leave, and most people who leave do it because they’re afraid to stay. If you stop and think about it you’ll find that fear is the motivating factor for most decisions people make in their lives”
― Tawni O'Dell, One of Us

“Why would she want to come back here and live?' I wondered. 'Doesn't seem like she'd want to.'
'Why do you say that?'
'She seems different, that's all.'
'I don't know,' Bud said. 'You might be confusing different with dissatisfied.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Back Roads

“I let my soul be corrupted that day, although it would be years later before I accepted what I had done. I forgot who I was and what I should do and only thought about what I wanted and what I could do.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Coal Run

“The only people who come close to annoying me as much as left-laners are cart-hogs, shoppers who leave their carts in the middle of the aisle and wander a few feet away, where they stand with their mouths open staring stupefied at the shelves as if they’ve never seen food before. I”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“Nothing shatters the reality of our good intentions like reality.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Angels Burning

“He doesn't comment on any of the music I play: Sonny Rollins followed by AC/DC followed by the Broadway score from My Fair Lady.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“I learned the most important aspect of a mother’s love was not the intensity but its reliable consistency.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Angels Burning

“Now it's a loud, slick sports bar like a thousand others across the nation. For some reason, they kept the name and also attempted to keep some of the original spirit by covering the walls with a pasteurized mishmash of blue-collar manliness: sports memorabilia, brand-new parts of old-model cars, a length of shiny railroad track, a mounted deer head. Now just as many women come here as men. The place reverberates with the sound of raised voices trying to compete with the noise coming from the twenty TVs. On weekends they compound the problem by having live music.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Angels Burning

“Love is a highly subjective concept; everyone has different standards for what qualifies”
― Tawni O'Dell, Angels Burning

“I’m usually a good judge of people’s characters and intentions, and I also have great reflexes. These are two qualities that served me well as a police officer”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“You and I have never shared a bank account or a child or a bed. But you are my wife.”
― Tawni O'Dell

“We don’t do what we want in order to get the kind of world we want; we do what we should in order to survive in the world we’ve been given.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“Oh, God,” Shannon moans. “We have to boil water,” I tell Kenny. “She wants Cup-a-Soup?” “No, it’s to sterilize things.” “What’s that?” I start rummaging through my house looking for anything useful. I get a knife, scissors, salad tongs, clothespins, a bottle of whiskey. Kenny”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“I've decided the worst part of being lonely isn't being alone. It's being forgotten.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts

“Qué pena que cuando los gobiernos deciden entrar en una guerra no puedan coger a sus ejércitos y ponerlos en un recinto cerrado a luchar, algo así como un estadio de fútbol, y no tener que joder a personas inocentes”
― Tawni O'Dell, Coal Run

“What do you need that for?” he asks about the Jack Daniel’s. “We might have to hit her over the head.” “Why are you smiling?” “Because this is a happy time,” I tell him honestly, even after I push aside the image of knocking Shannon unconscious with a bottle of JD. “This is fun. This is good. When this is all over, we’re going to have a baby.” He doesn’t look all that convinced, but he trots after me as we take our equipment into Shannon’s room. She’s sitting propped up on the bed with every pillow in my house behind her, blowing out air like a stalled locomotive. “You’re going to ruin my pillows,” I moan. “I’ll buy you new pillows,” she spits at me. “I’ll buy you a new bed. I’ll buy you a new fucking house.” “Watch your language,” I tell her. “There’s a little kid here.” “You think I care about a fucking little kid? Why is there a little kid here?” “Can we hit her yet?” Kenny asks. “Not yet.” Fanci”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“What are you looking at?” she screams at me. “I told you I was going to have the baby today.” “I thought you were joking. No one knows exactly when they’re going to have a baby.” “I do.” “Then why didn’t you make plans?” “These are my plans.” “To have it here?” “You were a cop. You know how to deliver babies.” “I also know how to do body cavity searches. It doesn’t mean I want to do them.” She”
― Tawni O'Dell, Sister Mine

“Never give up on your dream... Perseverance is all important. If you don't have the desire and the belief in yourself to keep trying after you've been told you should quit, you'll never make it.”
― Tawni O'Dell

“People will only fight so hard to try and old on to what they have, but they'll dig in and fight forever to protect who they are.”
― Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts