Iain Reid Quotes

“I actually want to be older. I’m happy to age, seriously.”
“I keep hoping for some gray hairs. Some wrinkles. I’d like to have some laugh lines. I guess, more than anything, I want to be myself,” he says. “I want to be. To be me.”
― Iain Reid, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

“We didn’t even talk that day. Not a word. There was no acknowledgement between us, but I felt a connection. I was on the other side of the road. I was alone. I thought I was alone. Until I saw her. She had no idea of her impact. She was oblivious. That was the power she had over me. Even then.
Seeing her made me question what I was doing, what I wanted, what I desired, what I could do. Not just in the moment. But what I had been doing that lead me to this point, why I was there, out in the sun, my hands dirty and sore. My whole life, I could not remember anyone’s name. Nothing had made a formative impact on me. But right then I thought that might change. If I knew her name, I would remember it. That’s what she did, even before we’d met - she’d changed things. There she was, preoccupied, bent down, oblivious, washing her hands in a puddle on the side of the road. I knew she was the one. I was meant for her. I saw her, and right then, my life began.”
― Iain Reid, Foe

“La empatía es una forma muy importante de inteligencia.”
― Iain Reid, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

“I’VE BECOME MORE AWARE OF MYSELF. BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION. NOW THAT I KNOW I’M LEAVING, I SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY. I’VE BEEN AWARE OF LITTLE THINGS THAT I WOULD HAVE MISSED BEFORE.
“LIKE WHAT?”
LIKE SEEING THE SUN SHINE OFF THE ROOF OF OUR OLD BARN. I SAW THAT THIS MORNING AND STOOD THERE, LOOKING AT IT. I FOUND IT MOVING. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL—IT REALLY WAS. I DON’T USUALLY THINK ABOUT IF A LANDSCAPE IS BEAUTIFUL OR NOT, BUT I COULDN’T CONTROL THIS FEELING. I SAW IT AND RECOGNIZED THAT IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? IT MADE ME SAD.
“SAD?” I CAN HEAR HIM TYPING. HE’S TRYING TO DO IT QUIETLY, BUT I CAN HEAR. “WHY?”
I DON’T KNOW. I HAVE NO IDEA.
“BECAUSE BEAUTY IS FLEETING, MAYBE?”
NO, I SAY. IT’S THE OPPOSITE. BEAUTY ISN’T FLEETING. BEAUTY IS ETERNAL. BUT . . . I’M NOT. I’M FLEETING. THAT’S MORE THE POINT.
HIS TYPING STOPS ABRUPTLY.
“THAT’S QUITE PROFOUND. YOU DO SEEM MORE SELF-AWARE AND INTROSPECTIVE THAN WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED. IT MAKES ME THINK OF BAUdelaire: ‘I CAN BARELY CONCEIVE OF A TYPE OF BEAUTY IN WHICH THERE IS NO MELANCHOLY.’ ”
― Iain Reid, Foe