I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.
I felt confused, and also inadequate; whatever he was asking or demanding, it was beyond me. this was the first time a man would expect more from me than i was capable of giving, but it wouldn't be th...
How potent was that word. With.
Condoms seemed to her inherently wicked. But they were also inherently funny. They were like rubber gloves with only one finger, and every time she saw one she had to be severe with herself or she’d g...
Change, we were sure, was for the better always. We were revisionists; what we revised was ourselves.
An unearned income encourages self-pity in those already prone to it.
Otherwise, one of you, most likely the man, would go wandering off on a trajectory of his own, taking his addictive body with him and leaving you with bad withdrawal, which you could counteract by exe...
He was wrong about the sadness though: far better to have it when you're young. A sad pretty girl inspires the urge to console, unlike a sad old crone.
Remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.
Fear has a smell as Love does.
Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land, where the notes are read and then possibly cherished, or else misinterp...
You fit into melike a hook into an eyea fish hookan open eye
Believe it. I must believe
Where were we? I've forgotten. He was deciding whether to cut her throat or love her forever.Right. Yes. The usual choices.
What people want is perfection, said the man. In themselves. But they need the steps to it to be pointed out, said the woman. In a simple order, said the man. With encouragement, said the woman. And a...
What is believed in society is not always the equivalent of what is true; but as regards to a woman's reputation, it amounts to the same thing.
We shouldn't have been so scornful; we should have had compassion. But compassion takes work, and we were young.
We have begun to slam doors, and to throw things. I throw my purse, an ashtray, a package of chocolate chips, which breaks on impact. We are picking up chocolate chips for days. Jon throws a glass of...
Though at that time men and women tried each other on, casually, like suits, rejecting whatever did not fit.
There's time to spare. This is one of the things I wasn't prepared for - the amount of unfilled time, the long parentheses of nothing. Time as white sound.