Z.Z. Packer > Quotes

“She did not want to say it, because it made no practical sense, but in the end she went to Japan for the delicate sake cups, resting in her hand like a blossom; she went to Japan for loveliness.”
― ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

“No," I said, and suddenly knew there was something mean in the world I could not stop.”
― Z.Z. Packer

“When you've been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others.”
― Z.Z. Packer

“freedom is attained only when the ant of the self—that small, blind, crumb-seeking part of ourselves—casts off slavery and its legacy, becoming a huge brave ox.”
― Z.Z. Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

“I'd hooked on to that one word, pretending. What Dr. Raeburn would never understand was that pretending was what had got me this far. I remembered the morning of my mother's funeral. I'd been given milk to settle my stomach; I'd pretended it was coffee. I imagined I was drinking coffee elsewhere. Some Arabic-speaking country where the thick coffee served in little cups was so strong it could keep you awake for days. Some Arabic country where I'd sit in a tented café and be more than happy to don a veil.”
― Z.Z. Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

“We had all been taught that adulthood was full of sorrow and pain, taxes and bills, dreaded work and dealings with whites, sickness and death. I tried to do what the others did. I tried to look silent.”
― ZZ Packer

“She was now entangled in something larger than herself. When she'd watched horror movies, it seemed easy enough to know when the victim should leave, run, hide. There were always shrieking violins and threatening, sawing cellos to alert you to danger. But here there were none, and she banged her head against the dash, as if trying to beat sense into it.”
― Z.Z. Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere