“ Love is not sufficient. It never has been. Stories that claim otherwise are lies. There's always SOMETHING after happily ever after. Arthur Phillips
“ He had no illusion that this was bittersweet or somehow necessary to make art. It just burned. Anyone who felt this would take their hand off the stove at once, but he was locked in position, inches f… Arthur Phillips
“ Boy, how can you think it wise to truck with this culture of death? Even at ten I knew the correct answer to that cataclysmic catechism: Right you are, Father. Much better to stick with the life-embra… Arthur Phillips
“ You deicde, and you make our night what you want. Brilliant and ours. Stupid and theirs. Arthur Phillips
“ But no, music lasted longer than anything it inspired. After LPs, cassettes, and CDs, when matrimony was about to decay into its component elements—alimony and acrimony—the songs startled him and rega… Arthur Phillips
“ But music is, at the very minimum, inflammatory, exclusionary, divisive, encouraging of snobbery and solipsism. Arthur Phillips
“ Says the brave and tearful mother hustled over from subconscious central casting when recollection fails. Arthur Phillips
“ The truth is, anyone who puts so much of herself and her life into art as you do must naturally fear any failure in that art as a potential threat to your life. And so you protect your art more than y… Arthur Phillips
“ Maria, groaning for scraps, would drape his head on my feet as I ate, trying to camouflage himself as my napkin or the rug. Arthur Phillips
“ How strangely distributed are our scruples. When they are evenly spread across our lives, we are judged good people. Mine, unfortunately, tend to bunch up. Arthur Phillips
“ He considered her ruthless, in his moments of pain, but also in moments of happiness, experienced mere feet from her but bound right wrist to left ankle by her rules: nothing could evolve, nothing cou… Arthur Phillips
“ All of this vain heartbreak that we cling to as important or tragic would one day be revealed - by TV scientists - for what it is: just behavior. Arthur Phillips
“ And when he finally did break, he would take with him his contagious restlessness and dissatisfaction and guilt, his little gestures and phrases and attitudes that stank of their parents and the past,… Arthur Phillips
“ So why did poor artists originally hang around in cafes?I don't know. Inspiration from the atmosphere.Ha! No, you've been tricked, too, just like the rest of us. Cafes didn't have inspirational atmosp… Arthur Phillips
“ He fell in love with Manhattan's skyline, like a first-time brothel guest falling for a seasoned professional. He mused over her reflections in the black East River at dusk, dawn, or darkest night, an… Arthur Phillips
“ Are you still awake?' he might ask in the intimate whisper of 3 a.m. lovers who half arise, warm and happy, to find they have been in someone's company during all those lost hours of sleep. Arthur Phillips
“ If music can ever restore a lost past, then this was the moment. Redemption! We do crave it. But music is different: we tolerate songs without redemption. Arthur Phillips
“ The strangest thing. I came to the end of other people so quickly. Each new person was like a glass of water, and at the beginning I was parched, but then each glass tasted a little worse, the water w… Arthur Phillips
“ How much of life could he spend aching? Aching is not a stable condition; it must resolve into something Arthur Phillips
