"Every arrangement in life carried with it the sadness, the sentimental shadow, of its not being something else, but only itself. "
— Lorrie Moore (Birds of America: Stories)

"This is what happened in love. One of you cried a lot and then both of you grew sarcastic."
— Lorrie Moore (Like Life)

"You are unhappy because you believe in such a thing as happy."
— Lorrie Moore

"Once love had seemed like magic. Now it seemed like tricks."
— Lorrie Moore

""The thing to remember about love affairs," says Simone, "is that they are all like having raccoons in your chimney."
...

"We have raccoons sometimes in our chimney," explains Simone.
"And once we tried to smoke them out. We lit a fire, knowing they were there, but we hoped the smoke would cause them to scurry out the top and never come back. Instead, they caught on fire and came crashing down into our living room, all charred and in flames and running madly around until they dropped dead." Simone swallows some wine. "Love affairs are like that," she says. "They are all like that.""
— Lorrie Moore