Judith Rossner > Quotes

“I'd rather be seduced than comforted.”
― Judith Rossner

“The truth was that the new woman's movement made her uncomfortable. ... she was upset by the stridency of much of it. The demands. It seemed that men must surely dislike women who were so demanding.”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“When she was naked she generally found her body rather beautiful, although she could never in a million years have admitted this to anyone. In clothes, in front of other people, she felt ashamed of her weight, her sloppiness, always something, but it was more because of what she felt they saw when they looked at her. Now”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“She felt as though she'd acquiesced in her own rape ...”
― Judith Rossner

“need to talk about my mother,” one of the women said. Her name was Susan. She was blond, very pretty, a stockbroker. Her mother was dying of cancer. “I have this horrible feeling of never having even known her. All my life, my father . . . was like a god to me. I worshipped him. I couldn’t understand why he ever married my mother. He was so special and she’s just . . . I always thought she was just this ordinary, everyday . . . I had no sense of her dignity, her nobility, really. She raised five kids and kept a house and gave him the support he needed and totally subjugated herself to him, to all of us, really, to our needs, and now when I think . . . She’s even”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“Love this quotation I just read:

“Ciao,” the girl said.
Fuck you, ciao. Ciao was the way Katherine and her friends said good-bye and it always struck her as a perfect symbol of their attempts to be what they weren’t.”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“It was like I wasn’t thinking. I swear to God. It was like someone else was doing it. I remember I’m looking down at her just before I bring it down and I’m looking at her face . . . she’s so scared . . . but it’s like I had nothing to do with it. It’s like I’m a million miles away.”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“He smiled. 'Now I have you in a cage.And whenever I want you,I'll take you out, and when I've done with you, I'll set you back in.”
― Judith Rossner, Emmeline

“Can we be just friends?," she asked tentatively.
"I thought we were friends," he said.
"You know what I mean."
"I choose not to know what you mean."
"How can you choose not to know what you know?" she asked sulkily.
"How can you choose not to talk about what you feel?"
"If I don't talk about it, I don't feel it."
"Fine. Then let's not talk about just being friends." --Looking for Mr. Goodbar”
― Judith Rossner

“He lay down on top of her. He was heavy but she didn’t mind. It didn’t matter, any more than it mattered that she didn’t like him. His body was there and felt good. They made love. He wasn’t tender but he was competent and when they were finished she fell asleep. When she awakened the luminous clock dial said it was ten to four in the morning. Her head was throbbing. The moment she saw him lying there she knew she had to get him out. Quickly. Before it was light. She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing him in the daylight, she hated him. She tapped his arm and he didn’t respond. She got panicky and shoved him until he woke up.”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“She wondered if he would try to make love to her and if he did, whether she would let him. It was hard to refuse if someone really wanted to, She tried to remember how she had refused someone in the past and then realized that she couldn't remember because she had never actually done it.”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“Sexually he was like a dose of anesthetic, he made her go dead all over, but he was so nice!”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar

“The strangest thing was that she was feeling very sexy. It couldn’t be him; it must be the drinks. She really felt like crawling into bed with someone. She looked at the bartender. That was who she’d really like to get into bed with. The bartender. Or Carter. Or— Suddenly”
― Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar