Joy in the Morning

Some people do crossword puzzles. I do books.

What is the difference between happiness and contentment?" “Well, happy is like when somebody gives you a big hunk of something wonderful and it’s too big to hold. So you pull off a piece from time to time to hold in your hand. That’s being contented. Anyway, that’s the way I look at it.

Did you ever see so many pee-wee hats, Carl?" "They're beanies." "They call them pee-wees in Brooklyn." "But I'm not in Brooklyn." "But you're still a Brooklynite." "I wouldn't want that to get around, Annie." "You don't mean that, Carl." "Ah, we might as well call them beanies, Annie." "Why?" "When in Rome do as the Romans do." "Do they call them beanies in Rome?" she asked artlessly. "This is the silliest conversation...

And they can't go back again, she thought. Sure, they can go home again. But only the outside part of them will be home; not their minds; not their thoughts.

It’s just that I feel like glass—that I’ll break in pieces if anybody so much as touches me.

During the war, when people were running around hollering, “Down with the Kaiser!” and changing sauerkraut to liberty cabbage,