866 quotes found
“My aunt must have been perfectly well aware that she would not see Swann again, that she would never leave her own house any more, but this ultimate seclusion seemed to be accepted by her with all ...”
“Fighting makes us feel alive, until it kills us. If it doesn’t kill us, the pain of sitting alone with ourselves, quietly, under constant assault by our own thoughts and memories of war can easily ...”
“...alone in this city, alone on this sea. The days were strewn about him, he was a drunkard of days. He had achieved nothing. He had his life--it was not worth much--not like a life that, though en...”
“Perception of a self is not simply about actuality. Human beings’ identities are self-generating and people constantly revise and recreate the story of their being. Coming-into-being, not being, is...”
“In terms of days and moments lived, you’ll never again be as young as you are right now, so spend this day, the youth of your future, in a way that deflects regret. Invest in yourself. Have some fu...”
“In her 20′s, a woman’s breasts double her self-esteem. In her 40′s, they halve it.”
“I've reached the age where bruises are formed from failures within rather than accidents without.”
“I read differently now, more painstakingly, knowing I am probably revisiting the books I love for the last time. (245)”
“A boy from Brooklyn used to cruise on summer nights.As soon as he’d hit sixty he’d hold his hand out the window,cupping it around the wind. He’d been assuredthis is exactly how a woman’s breast fee...”
“He thinks of the rotten parachute they played with as kids in Arcadia: they hurtle through life aging unimaginably fast, but each grasps a silken edge of memory that billows between them and soften...”
“I reflected that it seemed to be in the nature of human beings to spend the first part of their lives mocking the cliches and conventions of their elders and the final part mocking the cliches and ...”
“Three days a week she helped at the Manor Nursing Home, where people proved their keenness by reciting received analyses of current events. All the Manor residents watched television day and night,...”
“Until we’re pushing up daisies, it might be good to remind ourselves daily that everything’s coming up roses — for me and for you.”
“An old person knows what it’s like to be young, but a young person doesn’t know what it’s like to be old. There’s no substitute for life experience.”
“After 25 the only thing you’ll be precocious at is death.”
“Being a child is like nothing. It's only being. Later, when we think about it, we make it into youth.”
“Just then, a little hopped-up Japanese car zips up next to us. It’s bright yellow with loud, high-pitched exhaust pipes and a big air spoiler on the back. I look over at the driver to see who’s mak...”
“Youth is an unrecoverable asset. Unless you are a hydra, lucky you.”
“Sitting in the wicker rocking chair with her interrupted work in her lap, Amaranta watched Aureliano José, his chin covered with foam, stropping his razor to give himself his first shave. His black...”
“I wear my wrinkles like battle scars, having earned every last one slaying life’s dragons. They boast of my victories and some defeats while their beauty is a wealth of wisdom gained.”
