The Death of Bees Quotes

“He’s the type of person who loves the idea of being an outsider because he thinks by not belonging it makes him superior in some way. What he doesn’t get is that the real outsiders would do anything to be on the inside. A real outsider can’t be seen at all. They’re people who look like they belong when inside they know they don’t. They’re people who would do anything to appear normal, while harboring the secret knowledge that they’re anything but normal.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“We have seen death before, Marnie and I, a mountain of ice melting over time, drops of water freezing at your core reminding you every day of that which has vanished, but the despair we know today is a sadness sailing sorrow through every bone and knuckle.”
― Lisa O'Donnell , The Death of Bees

“Courage is what is needed now, courage and stealth, for there is much to fight for and much to let go.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“I'm never getting a tattoo. My secrets are etched safely on the inside and I intend to keep them there.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“He is deemed an inappropriate guardian, whereas my parents who neglected us every day of our waking lives were always deemed appropriate guardians on account of the DNA issue. No one wants to separate children from their parents, even when their parents are fucked-up delinquents.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Don't normal people run in the rain? Even abnormal people, most of them anyway, the only people I can think of who walk in the rain are tree buffers, bag ladies, and total psychos.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“There is no moment in which we say good-bye, there is no finality as he slips into peacefulness, he simply leaves us, and though I seek courage when he passes I am weakened by tears, but I must hide them for he leaves us a lie to conceal, a lie he sent to save us.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“It never occurs to any of these balloons that someone smoking on school premises isn’t rebelling against the system, we’re not even thinking about the system, we just want a fag. It’s a survival technique, a lot of teachers smoke but no one’s barging in the staff room judging their lives, their futures, putting them on detention.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“... you don't have to love everyone who's nice to you. People should be nice to each other.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“people just don’t couple wealth with neglect, idiocy with affluence.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“I fear death, I have always feared death. It comes like a gale and never with permission. I would meet it again today.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“We always felt divine in this place, tasting a desired view of the world, knowing a voracious appetite for the love that dare not speak its name, my soul sewn to your soul. Our fortunate embroidery.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Birds keep chirping and music keeps playing. Life continues as another life ebbs away.

We have seen death before, Marnie and I, a mountain of ice melting over time, drops of water freezing at your core reminding you every day of that which has vanished, but the despair we know today is a sadness sailing sorrow through every bone and knuckle.

There is no moment in which we say good-bye, there is no finality as he slips into peacefulness, he simply leaves us, and though I seek courage when he passes I am weakened by tears, but I must hide them for he leaves us a lie to conceal, a lie he sent to save us.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Telling the truth doesn't matter to a stranger for he knows little and can judge nothing.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Urban living has certainly hardened them. The neglect and the poverty, it steals so much from children, forcing them to snatch whatever's offered them--and how they grab at the things put upon them by strangers, the unnatural comforts and abhorrent cruelties.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Of course every girl wishes she could be one of those pop star babes who wave their hands in the air yelling about being survivors but when love sits on one side of you and loneliness on the other, it’s hard to stop the touching and the kissing.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“Then they start going on about cancer and how organic living is the way forward, totally ignoring how expensive it is to be organic and that there are a lot of people out there grateful if they can afford regular living.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“I smoke and drink and have abortions, actually one abortion, but still, I have an A average that I maintain with little or no effort on my part and they despise me for it, mostly because they can’t take credit for it.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“The secret, my love, is lemon zest.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“...a blind man running for a bus could have told them he was queer.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“...in other words, intelligence should be the reward of the virginal nonsmokers of the world, not some morally corrupt teenager with dead junkies in her back garden.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“They understand why she sits in their pews staring at icons, seeking out judgment, seeking atonement for the boy still waiting for her on pavements.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“I'll make a steak pie and some roast potatoes, peas, and maybe a bramble and raspberry crumble. How you loved that crumble and I was so mean about it, I wouldn't give you the recipe in case you left me and made it for someone else. Doesn't matter now I suppose.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees

“It happens fast when it comes for you, the callous quickening, the blood stilling, the breath falling swift as a swallow. I held you tight then, bound you petrified to a life withering and anchored in silence, but you escaped me and a quiet calm embraced the room, a kindness drawing you close and letting you go. The passage of a gentleman.”
― Lisa O'Donnell, The Death of Bees