The Natural Quotes

“We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us towards happiness.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“We have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live after that.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“He remembered how satisfied he had been as a youngster, and that with the little he had had - a dog, a stick, an aloneness he loved (which did not bleed him like his later loneliness), and he wished he could have lived longer in his boyhood. This was an old thought with him.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“Of course I was embarrassed but I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere where it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground. The ball screamed toward the pitcher and seemed suddenly to dive down at his feet. He grabbed it to throw to first and realized to his horror that he held only the cover. The rest of it, unraveling cotton thread as it rode, was headed into the outfield.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“His blood changed to falling snow.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“We have two lives, […], the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness All it taught me was to stay away from it. — Bernard Malamud, The Natural (Harcourt Brace, 1952)”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground somebody then shouted it was raining cats and dogs. By the time of Roy got in from second he was wading in water ankle deep.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“We have two lives; the one we learn with and the one after that.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“Experience makes good people better." She was staring at the lake. "How does it do that?" "Through their suffering." "I had enough of that," he said in disgust. "We have two lives, Roy, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness All it taught me was to stay away from it. I am sick of all I have suffered." She shrank away a little.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

“The raft with the singing green-eyed siren guarding the forbidden flame gave off into the rotting flood a scuttering one-eyed rat. In the distance though quite near, a toilet flushed, and though the hero braced himself against it, a rush of dirty water got a good grip and sucked him under.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural