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He who speaks without an attentive ear is mute.
You needn’t die happy when your day comes, but you must die satisfied,
But in a story, Roland, a minor character like John Cullum would never come in off the bench to save the day. It wouldn’t be considered realistic.” “In life,” Roland said, “I’m sure it happens all the time.”
There’s a phrase, the elephant in the living room, which purports to describe what it’s like to live with a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abuser. People outside such relationships will sometimes ask, “How could you let such a business go on for so many years? Didn’t you see the elephant in the living room?” And it’s so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer that comes closest to the truth: “I’m sorry, but it was there when I moved in. I didn’t know it was an elephant; I thought it was part of the furniture
“Was it Emily Dickinson who called hope the thing with feathers? I can’t remember. There are a great many things I can’t remember any longer, but it seems I still remember how to fight. Maybe that’s a good thing. I hope it’s a good thing.
“Because talent won’t be quiet, doesn’t know how to be quiet,”
Jake did, knowing this was another lesson—with Roland you were always in school. Even when you were in the shadow of death there were lessons to be learned.
She hesitated, then added Love you, Ree Was that true any longer? Well, let it stand, either way. Crossing out what you’d written in ink always looked ugly.
It wasn’t impossible, either, but a point came where one had to trust, because the alternative was madness.
before victory comes temptation. And the greater the victory to win, the greater the temptation to withstand.”
Our greatest moments of triumph are always inarticulate.
A feeling of vast contentment filled her. Some of it was having eaten hot food, but by no means all. The greater part of her well-being stemmed from a day of hard work, no more or less than that. The sense that they were not just floating along but doing for themselves. Jesus, she thought, I think I’m becoming a Republican in my old age.
“But I was talking about Cleveland, remember? You know how Cleveland got started? A bunch of people in New York said, ‘Gee I’m starting to enjoy the crime and the poverty, but it’s not quite cold enough. Let’s go west.’”
Patrick was willing, and the burial didn’t take long; the body was far smaller than the heart it had held.
