Isaac Quotes

“She had always been his mother; he hadn’t imagined her in another context, or a version of his life where this wasn’t the case. He’d always understood adults as people who embarked on constant mysterious adventures, who were full of reason and wisdom. In becoming one, he was realising that adults were plagued by the same inhibition, ignorance, naivety and vanity as he himself was.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“that he was the sort of person who would adjust the way he conducted himself depending on who he was with. The human embodiment of a perfume that smelt differently depending on the skin of the wearer.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“Men weren’t ashamed of their sexuality, but of being less of a man. Whenever Isaac had been picked on in school, it was for his voice, his walk, his girly handwriting, his aversion to kicking footballs through windows. Liking boys wasn’t the problem. It was being like a woman.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“he could process only the shape of the words and none of their meaning.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“not because he was pleased with himself, but with the joy of being responsible for someone else’s laughter.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“He’d built up many romantic scenarios in his head, where Harrison took on an abstract sort of perfection. He’d already imagined loving him, which meant he felt so nervous that his hands tingled, the excitement and dread twined together, a hard rope inside him.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“Isaac enjoyed witnessing Luca's body so casually. Perhaps this was intimacy – nakedness with a total lack of ceremony, as if their bodies and imperfections were a secret only the two of them shared.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“She made him feel safe and calm. He thought about everything she must have sacrificed to make sure he grew up into a happy person. Except he wasn’t happy, which made him feel like he’d failed her. After the years of her working and studying, of worrying about how he was being treated at school or wondering why he was being distant and evasive with her, he’d ended up miserable anyway. He felt overwhelmed with love for her, undeserving of her.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“Competing for who is less wealthy is the biggest signifier of wealth there is. You know, people who are actually skint never talk about class? The only people with a vocal disdain for wealth are people who have it.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“Take it from me, never wait for happiness to announce itself to you, because chances are it’s already happening.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac

“Low-quality photography showed Michelangelo chests harnessed in leather, feet in sloppy football socks, their soles black with dirt, or headless bodies in tight underwear, obscured by streaky mirrors in gyms and supermarket toilets. One boy posed before a row of Portaloos at a festival, wearing a flamingo-print shirt and round sunglasses, the pink lenses all but concealing pill-fed pupils. Others lay in their bathtubs; climbed up metal steps at lidos; stood before lakes, castles or famous paintings; sat cross-legged on wind-battered sand dunes; or pinched the Leaning Tower of Pisa between thumb and forefinger.”
― Curtis Garner, Isaac