“No matter what you do, someone always knew you would.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“If women lose the right to say where and how they birth their children, then they will have lost something that's as dear to life as breathing.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that's made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead ... that's the miracle.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“Miss B. says, "It's a mama's faith what keeps her children right. I'm not talkin' 'bout the churchgoin' kind, neither. Miss Mabel's got faith in goodness. Tell me you can't help but believe in it too just by lookin' at her.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“It’s a disgusting mess we come through to be born, the sticky-wet of blood and afterbirth, mother wailing, child crying … the helpless soft spot at the top of its head pulsing, waiting to be kissed. Our parents and teachers say it’s a miracle, but it’s not. It’s going to happen no matter what, there’s no choice in the matter. To my mind, a miracle is something that could go one way or another. The fact that something happens, when by all rights it shouldn’t, is what makes us take notice, it’s what saints are made of, it takes the breath away. How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that’s made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead … that’s the miracle.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“If women lose the right to say where and how they birth their children, then they will have lost something that’s as dear to life as breathing.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“Aunt Fran lowered her voice. "Her cold is just the start of a greater sickness. These 'stories,' as you call them, will only lead her to more pain."
"Fran, talk plain, will you?"
"I'm talking about derangement."
"Don't be silly!"
She wispered. "And deviant behaviours.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“No matter what you do—somebody, somewheres, knew that you would.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“Sin has many tools, but a lie has a handle to fit them all.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“Kissin’ the dirt’s the only way you’ll see heaven.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“Each morning you set your sights on the tasks ahead and hope that when the day is done you’re farther along than when you started.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“I ask myself, is it just a wild flight of imagination to conceive of a world without war … but someone must try … ” Julia Grace Wales”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
“How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that’s made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead … that’s the miracle.”
― Ami McKay, quote from The Birth House
Ami McKay
Born place: in Indiana, The United States
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“I'm deformed I can barely walk. I'm ugly to look at. What am I supposed to do with the rest of my life? Sit at some desk job and talk to people over a phone?"
I jump to my feet and begin to clean off the table.
"I'm not done," he tells me.
"I think you need to go practice for your future career as a nobody. Go sit in your room and hold a phone in your hand or something.”
― Lindy Zart, quote from Unlit Star
“Gen 22:11–16a The story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is traced to E. It refers to the deity as Elohim in vv. 1,3,8, and 9. But, just as Abraham’s hand is raised with the knife to sacrifice Isaac, the text says that the angel of Yahweh stops him (v. 11). The verses in which Isaac is spared refer to the deity as Yahweh (vv. 11–14). These verses are followed by a report that the angel speaks a second time and says, “… because you did not withhold your son from me….” Thus the four verses which report that Isaac was not sacrificed involve both a contradiction and a change of the name of the deity. As extraordinary as it may seem, it has been suggested that in the original version of this story Isaac was actually sacrificed, and that the intervening four verses were added subsequently, when the notion of human sacrifice was rejected (perhaps by the person who combined J and E). Of course, the words “you did not withhold your son” might mean only that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his son. But still it must be noted that the text concludes (v. 19), “And Abraham returned to his servants.” Isaac is not mentioned. Moreover, Isaac never again appears as a character in E. Interestingly, a later midrashic tradition developed this notion, that Isaac actually had been sacrificed. This tradition is discussed in S. Spiegel’s The Last Trial (New York: Schocken, 1969; Hebrew edition 1950).”
― Richard Elliott Friedman, quote from Who Wrote the Bible?
“Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.”
― Chris Bradford, quote from The Way of the Dragon
“The best I can hope for is the occasional moment of loose happy freedom—found usually with Harp but once or twice on this trip with Peter—that tells me it’s okay. That if I was put on this earth for any particular reason, it was to experience love and joy, just like anybody else.”
― Katie Coyle, quote from Vivian Apple at the End of the World
“Nunca olvidé su definición de héroe. Campbell dijo que un héroe es 'un ser humano común y corriente que hace lo mejor en las peores circunstancias'.”
― quote from The Boy on the Wooden Box
The Dragonbone Chair
Another Roadside Att...
Eighth Grade Bites
Utopia
Suite Française
The Monk Who Sold Hi...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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