David Todd McCarty

“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WRITING has taught me is this: the more vulnerable you allow yourself to be, the stronger you become.”
― Abigail Thomas, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing

“Detail is the antidote to boredom, and tends to keep depression at bay.”
― Abigail Thomas, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing

“I’VE WRITTEN MEMOIR FOR YEARS now in spite of a poor memory. Maybe because of my poor memory.”
― Abigail Thomas, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing

“I know a couple who uses shopping to dispel an unyielding sadness that seems to overwhelm them day by day. Whenever their depression becomes more than they can bear, they buy new furniture for their living room. And it helps—for a while. But in due course the sadness engulfs them again, and they don’t know why. But I think I do. It’s because the furniture doesn’t fulfill a dream; it’s purely an accessory, an accoutrement, to their otherwise-empty lives.”
― Richard Bode, First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living