“Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“You couldn't be satisfied with being an amateur asshole, could you, Jimbo! You had to go and turn pro on me!”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“I happen to be immature, undisciplined, and self-centered, pretty much a little boy in a man's body, although I'd appreciate it if you didn't quote me on that.
-Bobby Tom”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“All right, sweetheart; here's your last question, and it's a real challenge, so don't let yourself get distracted by these jealous women. To make sure all twelve of our future children are going to be legitimate, what New York City football team did Joe Namath play for?"
Gracie's face fell. Lord. Any fool should know the answer to this one. New York City... What football team was from New York City? Her expression brightened. "The New York City YANKEES!"
A roar of laughter went up from the crowd, accompanied by more than a few loud groans. Bobby Tom silenced them all with a glare. At the same time, the glitter in his eyes dared any of them to contradict her. When he was certain everyone understood the message, he turned back to Gracie and gathered her into his arms. With a tender look and a gentle brush of his lips, he said "Exactly right, sweetheart. I had no idea you knew so much about football"
And that was how every last person in Telarosa, Texas, came to understand that Bobby Tom Denton had finally and forever fallen head over heels in love.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Gracie: You have an unusual house. Have you lived here long?
Bobby Tom: A couple of years. I don't much like it myself, but the architect is real proud of it. She calls it urban Stone Age with a Japanese Tahitian influence. I sort of just call it ugly.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“His mother?" Gracie couldn't believe it. Suzy Denton looked much too young to be his mother. And much too respectable. "But you're not a-" She cut herself off in mid-sentence as she realized what she'd almost let slip.
Suzy's wedding ring clicked against the steering wheel as she gave it a hard smack. "I'm going to kill him! He's been telling that hooker story again, hasn't he?”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“I never thought I'd have to give you-a former Sunday School teacher-a lecture on ethics."
"Former Sunday School teachers don't go around without their underwear."
"You show me where it says that in the Bible.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“All right," she said in a low, determined voice. 'I'll go along with this. But you are not, under any circumstances, to refer to me again as 'the future Mrs. Bobby Tom,' do you understand? Because if you say that just once, just once, I will personally tell the entire world that our engagement is a fraud. Furthermore, I will announce that you are-are-" Her mouth opened and closed, She's stared out strong, but now she couldn't think of anything terrible enough to throw at him.
An ax murderer?" he offered helpfully.
When she didn't reply, he tried again. " A vegetarian?"
It came to her in a flash. "Impotent!”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Bobby Tom: You're supposed to be my assistant, not a baby-sitter!
Gracie: One and the same.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“[Bobby Tom] finally understood Gracie's function in his life. She was God's joke on him.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Just out of curiosity, sweetheart; did you ever talk to your doctor about givin' you some tranquilizers?”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“For all your talk, you don't know the first thing about love." Tears spilled over her lashes and rolled down her cheeks. She slipped the chain that held his Super Bowl ring over her head and pressed it into his palm. "I love you, Bobby Tom, and I'll love you till the day I die. But I've never been for sale. I was a free offering all along.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“He settled his hat back into position. She was a rookie in her first big game, and he’d never let her see how close she’d come to unseating a champion”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Throughout the course of the day, Bobby Tom's irritation over his artificially oiled and dirt-smeared chest and his unzipped jeans had flared into righteous indignation. They were treating him like a sex object! It was damned demeaning, that's what it was, being reduced to a set of oil pecs and a tight ass. Shit. A dozen years in the NFL, and this was what it had all come down to. Pecs and ass.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“As they began to mount the stairs, he looked up at his mother. "Just how many of those wine coolers did she drink?"
"She had three," Suzy replied.
Three! Bobby Tom couldn't believe it. After only three drinks, she'd stripped off her clothes and demanded that he have sex with her.
"Mom?" He shoved on his hat.
"Yes dear."
"Whatever you do, don't let her anywhere near a six-pack.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Once again Bobby Tom glanced at her over the top of Cheryl Lynn’s fluffy blond curls. “How was the spaghetti you ordered?”
“It was excellent.”
“I’m not much for the green stuff they poured over it.”
“Are you referring to the pesto?”
“Whatever. I like a nice meat sauce.”
“Of course you do. With a double rack of greasy ribs on the side, I’ll bet.”
“You’re making my mouth water just thinking about it.”
Cheryl Lynn lifted her head from his shoulder. “You’re doin’ it again, B.T.”
“Doing what, sweetheart?”
“Talkin’ to her.”
“Oh, I don’t think so darlin’. Not when I got you on my mind.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“There’s no accounting for the mysteries of the human heart”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“What New York City football team did Joe Namath play for?"
"The New York City Yankees!"
A roar of laughter went up from the crowd, accompanied by more than a few loud groans. Bobby Tom silenced them all with a glare. At the same time, the glitter in his eyes dared any of them to contradict her.
When he was certain every person there understood his message, he turned back to Gracie and gathered her into his arms. With a tender look and a gentle brush of his lips, he said, "Exactly right, sweetheart. I had no idea you knew so much about football."
And that was how every last person in Telarosa, Texas, came to understand that Bobby Tom Denton had finally and forever fallen head over heels in love.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Sometimes she did this funny little thing after they'd finished making love. He'd be holding her against his chest, sort of dozing off and feeling peaceful all the way down to his toenails, and she'd make this little ' x' right over his heart with her fingertip. Just this little 'x'. Right over his heart”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“He regarded her indignantly. “Did she say I broke our engagement?”
“She didn’t say hardly anything when I talked to her this morning, just that the two of you reached a mutual decision to end your relationship.”
“And you assumed that meant I ended it.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Hell, no.”
“Are you saying Gracie dumped you?”
He saw too late the trap he’d laid for himself.
“‘Course not. Nobody dumps me.”
“She did, didn’t she? She dumped you! Holy Moses! A person of the female species finally gave Bobby Tom Denton back a little bit of what he’s been giving out.” Grinning widely, she lifted her face to the heavens. “Thank you, Jesus!”
“Will you stop that! She didn’t dump me. Haven’t you figured out by now that we were never really engaged! It was just a ploy to keep everybody off my back while I was in town.” The fact that Terry Jo was making a joke out of this hurt in a way he couldn’t express.
“Of course you were engaged. A blind fool could see the two of you love each other.”
“We do not! Well, maybe she loves me, but…I care about her. Who wouldn’t? She’s about the best kind of woman there is. But, love? She’s not my type, Terry Jo.”
Terry Jo gave him a long, steady gaze. “It’s amazing. You don’t know any more about women now than you did in high school when you threw me over for Sherri Hopper.” She regarded him sadly. “When are you going to grow up, Bobby Tom?”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“This hasn’t been a conversation, Bobby Tom. You haven’t said one single thing that matters.” She”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Sweetheart, I don’t think there’s going to be any pain, if that’s what you’re worried about. Now I’m no gynecologist, but you’re thirty years old, and whatever barrier might have been there when you were a youngster has got to have evaporated from old age by now.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“– Csak kíváncsiságból, tudod, mi az a
színészet?
– Frászt.
– Gondoltam.
– Nem értem, mi a jelentősége. Az ilyen filmekben csak seggeket kell szétrúgni és nőket
levetkőztetni. A fenébe is, nyolcéves korom óta ezt csinálom.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Your son is no gentleman. He refused to have sex with me.” Suzy”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“He was a glittering superhuman creature who must have been put on earth by a perverse God to remind homely women like herself that some things were unobtainable.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“The room held her scent, that elusive fragrance that sometimes reminded him of spring flowers and other times made him think of summer afternoons and ripe peaches. Gracie seemed to be part of all the seasons. The warm glints of autumn shone in her hair, the clear light of winter sun sparkled in those intelligent gray eyes. He had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't a U.S.D.A. prime-cut female because lately he'd had a tendency to forget. It was just . . .
She was so damned cute.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“Gli uomini straordinari erano per le donne straordinarie, e lei era irrimediabilmente ordinaria”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“You come from a long line of homely women, Gracie Snow. Accept the fact that you'll never be pretty and you'll be a lot happie”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
“You come from a long line of homely women, Gracie Snow. Accept the fact that you'll never be pretty and you'll be a lot happier”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Heaven, Texas
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
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“Melinda Pratt rides city bus number twelve to her cello lesson, wearing her mother's jean jacket and only one sock. Hallo, world, says Minna. Minna often addresses the world, sometimes silently, sometimes out loud. Bus number twelve is her favorite place for watching, inside and out. The bus passes cars and bicycles and people walking dogs. It passes store windows, and every so often Minna sees her face reflection, two dark eyes in a face as pale as a winter dawn. There are fourteen people on the bus today. Minna stands up to count them. She likes to count people, telephone poles, hats, umbrellas, and, lately, earrings. One girl, sitting directly in front of Minna, has seven earrings, five in one ear. She has wisps of dyed green hair that lie like forsythia buds against her neck.
There are, Minna knows, a king, a past president of the United States, and a beauty queen on the bus. Minna can tell by looking. The king yawns and scratches his ear with his little finger. Scratches, not picks. The beauty queen sleeps, her mouth open, her hair the color of tomatoes not yet ripe. The past preside of the United States reads Teen Love and Body Builder's Annual.
Next to Minna, leaning against the seat, is her cello in its zippered canvas case. Next to her cello is her younger brother, McGrew, who is humming. McGrew always hums. Sometimes he hums sentences, though most often it comes out like singing. McGrew's teachers do not enjoy McGrew answering questions in hums or song. Neither does the school principal, Mr. Ripley. McGrew spends lots of time sitting on the bench outside Mr. Ripley's office, humming.
Today McGrew is humming the newspaper. First the headlines, then the sports section, then the comics. McGrew only laughs at the headlines.
Minna smiles at her brother. He is small and stocky and compact like a suitcase. Minna loves him. McGrew always tells the truth, even when he shouldn't. He is kind. And he lends Minna money from the coffee jar he keeps beneath his mattress.
Minna looks out the bus window and thinks about her life. Her one life. She likes artichokes and blue fingernail polish and Mozart played too fast. She loves baseball, and the month of March because no one else much likes March, and every shade of brown she has ever seen. But this is only one life. Someday, she knows, she will have another life. A better one. McGrew knows this, too. McGrew is ten years old. He knows nearly everything. He knows, for instance, that his older sister, Minna Pratt, age eleven, is sitting patiently next to her cello waiting to be a woman.”
― Patricia MacLachlan, quote from The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt
“Honest, hopelessly romantic old-fashioned gentleman seeks lady friend who enjoys elegant dining, dancing and the slow bloom of affection.”
― Claire Cook, quote from Must Love Dogs
“Our fingers brush together for a brief moment, and I'm suddenly overwhelmed with the need to be touched.
Not fucked. Not kissed. Not titillated. Just...held, perhaps. Embraced. Enfolded.”
― Andra Brynn, quote from Where I End and You Begin
“But what could you do? Only keep going. People kept going; they had been doing it for thousands of years. You took the kindness offered, letting it seep as far in as it could go, and the remaining dark crevices you carried around with you, knowing that over time they might change into something almost bearable. Dottie,”
― Elizabeth Strout, quote from Amy and Isabelle
“I do not wish to preach, but perhaps, after all, this terrible misfortune may lead you to something better. Thank God, there is forgiveness for us all.”
― H. Rider Haggard, quote from Dawn
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