Theory & Practice Quotes

“Be the one to break up. Be the one. Be the cool one.’ ‘Who will write the history of tears?”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“Everyone knows there are two types of mirrors, merciless and kind. The one over my bathroom sink was merciless, and I tried never to catch sight of myself in it.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“The airless corridors of the English department smelled of photocopier and fear. Students were milling about a noticeboard, sniggering at a hand-drawn cartoon strip with three frames: 1. Happy student arrives at university clutching a teddy bear labelled ‘Literature’. 2. Snarling tutor in a T-shirt labelled ‘Theory’ rips teddy to pieces. 3. Student sobs.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“At its best, my playing was confident and free of mistakes. That was always enough to earn me a Distinction, scraping through with a mark or two to spare. When I’d been playing for a few years, my teacher entered me for a music theory exam.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“Many years had to pass before I'd realise that life isn't about wishes coming true but about the slow revelation of what we really wished.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“the restaurant where he drinks too much schnapps on his last night in the Alps.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice

“I’ve never stopped expecting my mother to call me. Sometimes a kind mirror shows me her face. I find myself thinking back through her, just as the Woolfmother predicted I would.”
― Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice