Leaving the World Quotes

“We can rarely tell others what we really think about them--not just because it would so wound them, but also because it would so wound ourselves.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“Because there is no meaning to be found in the arbitrary nature of things., It's all random. Just as space is blue. And birds fly through it.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to....because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“There were moments when I felt seriously unhinged; when I was convinced that I would never, ever recover from what had happened, when it was absolutely clear to me that life from this point on would be constant agony ...”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“But the strangest of all sensations is the moment after you have been freed of the baby--and the baby of you--and you are handed this tiny shriveled creature to hold for the first time... and you feel a mixture of unbelievable instant love and desperate fear.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“The lure of safety drags us into lives we'd prefer to dodge.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“We all end up ruing everything. It's the nature of this thing we call 'our condition.' Could, but didn't...Wanted to, but stopped myself...All the damn statements of regret we can never dodge.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“Discipline is all about the imposition of control-the belief that, by following a precise regime and avoiding distractions, you can somehow keep the disorder of life at bay.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“We all want to fix things. Just as we all believe that so much in life can be rectified. Mend fences, build bridges, reach out, engage in mutual healing.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“But can you ever excise a bad parent? Though you might come to terms with all that they have psychologically bequeathed you, they can never really be expunged. They're the stubborn, permanent stain that will never entirely vanish in the wash.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“Money. The trickiest substance in life--as it's the way we keep score, measure our worth, and think we can control our destinies. Money: the essential lie.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“We try so hard to put our mark on things, we like to tell ourselves that what we do has import or will last. But the truth is, we're all just passing through. So little survives us. And when we're gone, it's simply the memory of others that keeps our time here alive. And when they're gone... That's why - when I go - I'm asking that my dust gets tossed on the water. Because ends up floating away.”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World

“Beano, buying the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Calgary”
― Douglas Kennedy, Leaving the World