Buckeye Quotes

“What is it about time that confounds us? We spend it. We save it. We while it away. We waste it. We kill it. We complain about not having enough of it, or about having too much of it on our hands. We regret what we’ve done with it. We give it away. We want it back. We say “time and again” when something is bothering us and “it’s time” when something is supposed to end. Felix saw it so clearly: all we should ever want of time is more of it. Life was so simple when it was reduced to the barest of necessities: more time; more air; more Duke Ellington.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“This is why old people seem distant and distracted, he thought. We aren’t living in the past; the past is living in us.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Calling this new weapon “a harnessing of the basic power of the universe” was, he knew, horseshit. It was a harnessing of the hubris of men.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“This is why old people seem distant and distracted, he thought. We aren’t living in the past; the past is living in us. And it’s talking. We get old to be able to recalibrate everything we thought was going to be important. We get old just to hear it. It says, the days, the days, the days.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“They were, Felix thought, like a plant that could only get as big as its pot, no shaping or pruning allowed. Still, a healthy plant.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“The things that we love tell us what we are.’ If I ever get a tattoo, it’s going to be that, right across the top of my chest.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“The wisdom that comes with age was needling, he found, because it brought the clarity of hindsight without the means to change anything.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“The whole reason you build a bridge together is so the water can run under it, right? And not wash the two of you away? Sometimes one of you makes it flood, and then the water recedes.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“They disappeared into the task, shoveled themselves night and day into the furnace of their intention to keep Skip safe and healthy.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Over and over, she’d learned that what the dead most often conveyed was love and forgiveness. She could only conclude that these were the two most important things in the world—so important that people carried them into the afterlife for the sole purpose of being able to hand them back to the living.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Forgiveness wasn’t so great if you were the forgiver, Becky discovered. Forgiveness was supposed to be the high road, but it was low and bumpy—and long. Still,”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“so the water can run under it, right? And not wash the two of you away?”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Tell him only Goofus lays his bicycle down in the middle of people’s walkways. Gallant parks his bicycle to the side, and uses his kickstand.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“When he read, heard, and watched the news, he wondered how many people were out there doing the same thing he was—scratching their heads as they tried to figure out how to prioritize their worries and confront their prejudices; drawing their own maps with their fingers crossed.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Because they had to go to a wife, or to work, or to a war, or to that secret place of stoic brooding all men were given the key to at birth. Had any mother ever had the time for stoic brooding?”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“What is it about time that confounds us? We spend it. We save it. We while it away. We waste it. We kill it. We complain about not having enough of it”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Basic fairness should not take this long. This country is at war with itself while you meddle in Vietnam. Are you blind and deaf to your surroundings? Perhaps clean your glasses? And your ears?”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Therein”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Their expressions shifted just slightly when they spoke to him. He detected the anticipation of annoyance. Sensed the lowering of expectations. He couldn’t bring himself to care about it; he could only watch as this guy with a shattered heart and a questionable composure (a barely recognizable version of him) spent his days walking around in the extreme heat”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“wanted to ride a roller coaster, and this time Cal said he would sit it out. She contemplated the Blue Streak, which looked like a giant stack of razor wire, and the Iron Dragon, which she worried would give her whiplash. She settled on the Gemini—a ferocious-looking fortress of wooden lattice with two sets of cars running through it. Cal found”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“A weapon without shape that moved with the breeze and took down every living thing in its path wasn’t warfare. It was extermination. And look how busy the tinkerers had been since his war”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“In the bathroom”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“She smiled at the memory.
"Yes, I'm glad I stayed. The whole reason you build a bridge together is so the water can run under it, right? And not wash the two of you away? Sometimes one of you makes it flood, and then the water recedes. Your father could infuriate me, but I loved him, and he was always going to be the one I gave it a go with. So, no, I don't regret it. I'm glad I stayed.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“When you didn’t want to say too much or explain anything”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“The lodging house was filled with young women who seemed drained of most of their hope by the end of the day”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“Even the most unbearable things became fossils”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“You want me to lie to her.” Roman’s eyes dollied forward under his brow. “If it means living in peace? Absolutely. That’s one of the reasons we have lies.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“You have to love him”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“You'll find a squirrel who can sing 'Mairzy Do-ates' before you find a man who takes you seriously."

Her advice was to care less. Even better-don't care at all. She didn't mean about Cal, but about the things that came out of his mouth. "You have to love him, and you have to let him love you back. But you don't have to care about every dumb things he says, because I can guarantee you, tomorrow he's going to say something just as dumb." Becky's eyes widened at the irreverence of that. "It's not just Cal," Ida said. "It's all of them. They think they've got all the brains, but if they did, they wouldn't walk around sounding like idiots half the time. When you give him a hug, squeeze extra tight. That's what I do with your father. He says I only know how to give bear hugs, and I want to say, 'That's because I'm trying to squeeze the stupid out of you, honey!”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye

“the person who was stupid enough to do what he’d done wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to fix it.”
― Patrick Ryan, Buckeye