The Pale Queen's Literary Quotes

"I wanted to do whatever Amazing Thing I was expected to do... and be done with it. Go to sleep. Go to a heaven where there was nothing but bathtubs and books." — Marya Hornbacher

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“There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.”

— Philip Roth, American Pastoral

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apoetreflects:

A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals.  He isn’t telling, or teaching, or ordering.  Rather, he seeks to establish a relationship with meaning, of feeling, of observing.  We are lonesome animals.  We spend all our lives trying to be less lonesome.  And one of our ancient methods is to tell a story, begging the listener to say, and to feel, ‘Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.’ To finish is sadness to a writer, a little death. He puts the last word down and it is done. But it isn’t really done. The story goes on and leaves the writer behind, for no story is ever done.

—John Steinbeck, from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters (Viking, 1975)

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True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care — with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world.

David Foster Wallace, The Pale King (via quotespile)

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Mary Oliver, from “The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac”, Blue Horses

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“You get older and you don’t even want love. Not the love we believed in when we were young. Who has the energy for that? I mean, when I think of the way we used to carry on about it. ”

― Patrick deWitt

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“I saw my bulky person in the windows of the passing storefronts and wondered, when will that man there find himself to be loved?”

― Patrick deWitt

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“Here lies Morris, a good man and friend. He enjoyed the finer points of civilized life but never shied away from a hearty adventure or hard work. He died a free man, which is more than most people can say, if we are going to be honest about it. Most people are chained to their own fear and stupidity and haven't the sense to level a cold eye at just what is wrong with their lives. Most people will continue on, dissatisfied but never attempting to understand why, or how they might change things for the better, and they die with nothing in their hearts but dirt and old, thin blood - weak blood, diluted - and their memories aren't worth a goddamned thing, you will see what I mean.”

― Patrick deWitt

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“Some people need a red carpet rolled out in front of them in order to walk forward into friendship. They can't see the tiny outstretched hands all around them, everywhere, like leaves on trees.” ― Miranda July

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“Kissing George was a little like rolling in caramel after spending years surviving off rice sticks.”

― Aimee Bender

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“Everywhere, Everywhere" amazing, how grimly we hold onto our misery, ever defensive, thwarted by the forces. amazing, the energy we burn fueling our anger. amazing, how one moment we can be snarling like a beast, then a few moments later, forgetting what or why. not hours of this or days or months or years of this but decades, lifetimes completely use up, given over to the prettiest rancor and hatred. finally there is nothing here for death to take away.” ― Charles Bukowski,

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“Survive long enough and you get to a far point in life where nothing else of particular interest is going to happen. After that, if you don’t watch out, you can spend all your time tallying your losses and gains in endless narrative."

― Charles Frazier 

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“It’s just that living with him—being married to him— is like being covered with these little cuts all the time. There’s no big gash you can show anybody, nothing they’d believe would really hurt. But these damn little nicks, they suck the blood right out of you.”

― Richard Russo

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“Her deepest longing, perhaps, was to be loved unconditionally, and at the same time be left in peace. But she never told anyone. It is shameful and egotistical to hope for unconditional love and at the same time want to be left in peace. The mother’s inner worlds were neatly sealed—dark, gilded worlds.”

― Linn Ullmann