jamie > jamie's Quotes

“Her art is in understanding the fine line between an outfit and a costume. (36)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Daisy is a real ingénue. She grew up wearing braids on a farm somewhere in the Midwest, or maybe in the South, before she hopped on a bus and ended up in New York. You can tell because she still pronounces words that start with w as through they start with an h, like hwat, hwho. Daisy has the look of farm ilk, all strawberry blond with strong teeth and a American freckles. It adds to her charm in a city used to irregular faces. Her plainness is always being photographed. I find she is reasonable as a person, almost old-fashioned. She has a lot of what people consider "moral fiber," which simply means a variety of ears instilled in you when you're young enough to be scared. In New York, people find her Authentic. She's fallen in love approximately forty times and always with someone who has nothing to offer. It's a gift of dumb luck. Men find her alluring because she has one of those open faces--all wide-eyes and large forehead. Daisy likes to admit, "Men are such fans of innocence." Crazy things are always happening to her, and she never knows how or why. (26)”
― Marlowe Granados

“I'll hold a netted floor-length dress with daisies embroidered into the fabric, and she'll say, "You couldn't climb a fence in that."
There is only gone rule when we get dressed: if it makes you feel good and there is a pinch of fear that while in public someone may throw a comment your way or think it's too much, wear it... People think clothing is frivolous, but it can really instill courage, and that's a good thing. (21)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“I was under the impression that I loved him, simply because I never knee what he was thinking. This mystery formed an almost palpable ache. (19)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“My mother always told me that to be a girl one must be especially clever." (3)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”
― August Wilson

“Laurie and I read till late, and when I finally fell asleep, I sensed that Laurie was no longer reading, but looking at me as one is able to look upon a person one knows well, fully, and without reserve." (75)”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“Another time, the power cut out and we dug up a headlamp and a few candles from one of the still-unpacked moving boxes. While the storm went on outside, we went round and placed the candles at various guiding points throughout the house. When I lit them in the kitchen, it smelled briefly of birthday cakes. I remember cooking a simple dinner, pulling the skins off the tomatoes in the near darkness, going by feel rather than by sight. Laurie had put the record player on, and danced slowly and achingly in front of the cat, who continued to glower from her cushion on the floor. We could barely see the food on the table, noticing only the shapes and textures of the vegetables in their bowls. I had taken the washing in and sheets were hung and draped over the rack, a ladder, a glass door. Outside, we could hear that the wind was strong, but inside it was still. I remembered thinking, as we ate, how such happiness could come from such simple things." (71)”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“All that was left for her to do, she said, was to allow her daughter to wear the same dress for days on end, to sew on a new hem, to maker her something warm for dinner, to look on her in flawed and understanding, to console in all the insufficient ways." (16)”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“Maybe it's good, I said, to stop sometimes and reflect upon the things that have happened, maybe thinking about sadness can actually end up making you happy.”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“I just want to know how tomorrow is going to be any different if we still can’t agree on what happened yesterday over three hundred years later. You know?

Good night! Sleep tight! Beware the secret police! I love you with all my heart!”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“Christ's disciples hate the poor and love the banks, who now have voting rights, and genders. All of the banks are men now. You're welcome.”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“Every day in the morning before going to work Sam, who leaves first because his commute is longer, has to do a lay uponst, which is when Eleanor is in bed and Sam has to lay completely on top of her." (229)”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“Both Johnny and Jane went home alone because nobody knew they'd broken up. One day they just woke up and felt like strangers living inside a life they've built together, and it was scary. It was scary to look into the eyes of the person whose health insurance you were on every morning and have her look at you like a stranger. It was fucking scary to come home every day to the man who built your table your bed your couch your life, who'd scaffolded up your sense of self for five years, and have him tell you when you come home from the job that pays for his motorcycle insurance and gas, that he hadn't even the inkling of a notion of how to start to talk to you now." (47)”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“The light of Heaven is within you. You sad sad fuck." (32)”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“All around them are people, sitting, standing, drinking, someone is getting empanadas, then everyone is getting empanadas. The snow is falling all around. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's the end of the world. Not now, I mean, picture this: It's the end of the world. How much of your life are you happy with?" (25)”
― Sasha Fletcher, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World

“WL’s [White Liberals] think all the world’s problems can be fixed without any cost to themselves. We don’t believe that. There’s a lot to be said for sacrifice, remorse, even pity. It’s what separates us from roaches”
― Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

“Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled—
to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.”
― Mary Oliver

“How I go to the wood

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single
friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore
unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of
praying, as you no doubt have yours.

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit
on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost
unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love
you very much.”
― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

“I don't think I have ever met a woman who I wouldn't consider formidable. My mother was just so. Being a young girl is always a cute trick. I leaves nothing to be desired and it is easy. I feel as though becoming a woman is like along tradition of going through things and coming out strong, but I am tired and weary!”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Isn't it wonderful when one is in an isolated room, and the world is still present? Some may think of a good library that way, but to me it's a good cellar. (57)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Fabric was uses in place of a partner. Whenever she turned, she kicked back the train to follow her movements; the starch poplin rustled with her. She was not lonesome. She was full and took up the room. (58)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“And Alice too, didn't she know that the mark of being irrational is doing something over and over again? (73)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Sometimes Gala and I find ourselves sitting in silence, not for the lack of things to say but because the gift of content silence with someone other than yourself is to be relished. In fact, it is luxurious. (77)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“Some people think that in order to make an impression on a pretty girl, one has to be mean to her. People think girls who have certain magnetism have never known Real Struggle, so they take it upon themselves to give a little bruising and a hard time. They think we should always be learning Life Lessons. You know, he could lacquer me up with whatever ideas he pleased, only to disappoint. And wouldn't that be easier on him? I said outright, If I took myself as seriously as you take me, I may consider being hurt." I am highly educated in true sorrow, so I don't succumb to silly criticism. In no way am I shocked by someone's ideas about me. (83)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“He's spry and proper... He moves curbside, as boys are told to when walking by a girl, likely by mothers hoping their sons don't turn out to be brutes, which they usually do anyway.
I don't know why I've always liked brutes. They drink too much for lack of the right language to express themselves. Sometimes they're too sacred to express anything at all, but it's never obvious. They appear coarse, aloof, absolutely taciturn. They have always been my weakness, I really yearn for it. The min reels with all the possibilities of what they might feel or think about you. Usually it is nothing like what you expect and much less complex than the thoughts you generally assign to them. (109)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“I go between feeling much too young and much too old for my age. (115)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“The Fear makes this anxiety bloom in my chest to proportions I am far too petite to contain. (12)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“What she means is have an idea of what you want and never get talked out of it. I am slowly learning to never accept less that what I deserve. Deciding how much I deserve is another matter. I wish someone would say to me, "I will never look up or down at you." (139)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

“To be free to communicate without consequence--is that ever a possibility? I want to say, "I don't want you to have feelings about my feelings." I want to be heard without consequence because to be heard is such a novelty... Sometimes what I want to say is "I want you to be mine!" Sometimes it is "I feel trapped!" Sometimes is is "I resigned myself to a fate I thought I wanted and now I don't!" (149)”
― Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour