Carol Plum-Ucci · 336 pages
Rating: (3.3K votes)
“Complete happiness can look so much like complete terror that its hard to tell them apart.”
“If you can understand human behavior, it can’t hurt you nearly as much.”
“You're supposed to be kind to everyone, because you never know when you're meeting an angel.”
“There are times in life to grow, and there are times in life to shine. One can't grow and shine at the same time; it just doesn't work that way. Now you're growing. Tomorrow you'll shine.”
“He says you don't often find angels in places like happy homes and rich people's backyard parties. He says that angels flock to places like hospitals and homelss shelters and jails, because those people realize they need help. And do they are able to believe in strange phenomena. Funny how the world is backward. The really comfortable people don't always see much supernaturally, and to the ones who have to struggle, it's, like, breathing in their faces. The first are last... and the last are first.”
“If people knew who the angels were, they would be very nice when they saw one and would still do their same evil garbage when they thought none were around. Knowing who they are defeats the purpose.”
“If a life goes down the toilet, it comes out in a river and meets the sea.”
“Don't you give me that postmodern bullshit. There is truth, There is a truth. And what you want, or you feel, or you need, isn't going to change the truth. Any more than it's going to topple a skyscraper. There's truth, and there's belief. Don't call a mule a stallion.”
“You gotta pay your dues to sing the blues.”
“I don’t really think our greatest memories are always great while they’re happening.”
“Sometimes it has to feel worse before it feels better.”
“Don't tell people you care about them when all you really care about is getting your own way.”
“Some doctors say a person who has only had same-sex attractions is, like, a zero. A person who has only had opposite-sex attractions is, like, a ten. He says most people fall between one and nine.”
“Of all those books you've read? There's got to be something, somewhere in them, to help us laugh at a situation like this.”
“Problem with the big philosophers is they cared about ideas more than people. Hegel would probably have stepped over a guy trying to slit his wrists outside a bar — to get to all the people he could sit and bullshit with inside. Did you know half of philosophy was first put into words by people shot in the ass?”
“People create their own little hells. They don’t need my help”
“My mom always said that people admire you for your strengths, but they love you for your faults. They love you for all your imperfections, which make them more comfortable with their own imperfect lives.”
“The deep doesn't bother swallowing just anybody. The sea takes the extraordinary and leaves the rest be”
“World is all backward… It’s like…we’re through the looking glass. Good is bad, bad is good. Black is white, white is black. People base their lives on convenient recollections and are considered sane. People who look too hard for truth are considered crazy.”
“There is truth. There is a truth. And what you want, or you feel, or you need, isn’t going to change the truth.”
“The truth will set you free, and then you shall be free indeed.”
“But then I think, no, I wouldn’t give up twelve, thirteen, sixteen, seventeen with Peter for the world.”
“I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.”
“No one awakens in the morning thinking they will die that day. Not a saint or a sinner. Not even a condemned killer. We all know were mortal, and yet we all believe we'll live forever.”
“And, truth be told, I'm curious myself. I wouldn't want Goodfellow dying before we ever resolved our duel. That would be unfortunate.”
“What is democracy? It is what it says, the rule of the people. It is as good as the people are, or as bad.”
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