Mary Robison > Quotes

“He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, was an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant you expected too much, most of the time, and liked yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing”
― Mary Robison

“Something else that makes me angry is that I got too old to prostitute myself. I wasn't going to anyway but it was there, it was my Z plan.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever

“You know, up until later on today, I never really knew how to drink.”
― Mary Robison, One D.O.A., One on the Way

“You Can Fly But Your Body Can't

My first seat was in first class between Penny and Belinda. Before I poured Rémy Martin down my throat and had to come see what the folks back here think of things.

316

'Cool out, you know, I didn't mean it, I don't really hate you,' I hear someone say.
While, over the intercom, the pilot jabbers. He's explaining that some dysfunction, once we're on the ground, can be easily fixed with a pin. I don't know, at that point, how much any of us will care. Maybe I'm drunk, but seems like they could give the plane to the Arabs once we've all made our connecting flights.

317

The beer nuts just served to me in a cello packet are the most delicious food I've ever tasted in my life.
Back at Dallas-Fort Worth I put an Otis Redding CD into my player and I doubt I'll ever have a reason to take it out.
Through the window, trigonometry, under a silky pink sky.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever

“Way to pronoun," Saunders says.”
― Mary Robison, One D.O.A., One on the Way

“Once more I'm out, at one A.M., in some store trying to purchase bedding plants. The cashier woman says, "They're three for five dollars. You sure you need eight?"
I"m distracted, looking at this man behind me.
She ask, "You're sure you want to cut it off at eight?"
This guy behind me in the checkout lane is wearing a sweater vest and his arms bare. He's waiting with a hundred-dollar bill to pay for Twizzlers and a porterhouse steak.
Which leads me to look down at my own self.
Do I know you?" he asks softly.
No," I say, sighing. "Not in the way you mean.”
― Mary Robison

“They're not going to bother me tonight. They won't denigrate my efforts, or ridicule anything that's mine, won't roll their eyes, or correct me, or cut me short and leave the room. They won't burden, or overwork me, or heap upon me responsibilities that are theirs. And, no more than they are doing, they won't intrude on my privacy, try to embarrass me or make me uncomfortable.

Plus, they seem pretty far beyond hurting each other.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever

“In her bedroom, a few weeks earlier in her life than had been predicted, she began to die. “Don’t look at me if my wig comes off,” she told Clark. “Please.” Her pulse cords were fluttering under his fingers. She raised her knees and kicked away the comforter. She said something to Clark about the garage being locked.
At the telephone, Clark had a clear view out back and down to the porch. He wanted to get drunk with his wife once more. He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, was an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant you expected too much, most of the time, and liked yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing.”
― Mary Robison, My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro

“There is something you do with dialog that makes it sound more like our talk than our talk does.”
― Mary Robison

“I think perhaps a syllable maximum should be set for some people and, I'm sorry, but rather a low one.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever

“Something else that makes me angry is that I got too old to prostitute myself. I wasn't going to anyway but it was there, it was my Z plan.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever

“He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective that he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, is an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant that you expected too much, most of the time, and like yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing.”
― Mary Robison, An Amateur's Guide to the Night

“I’ve come to pick up Collie and caught the glint of her buzzed red head out back here in the yard. She’s deep in, standing under a ruined magnolia tree, peering up into its branches. There are fallen dysfunctional blossoms, looking like killed pelicans, all around.”
― Mary Robison, One D.O.A., One on the Way: A Novel

“I have a dream of working a combination lock that is engraved on its back with the combination. Left 85, right 12, left 66. "Well shit, man," I say in the dream.”
― Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever