The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street Quotes

“Everybody thinks that once you reach the top, you can lie back on a divan with a goddamn mai tai. No. Wrong. Success is not a mountain climb. Success is a treadmill.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“That's the thing about luxury, darlings. The moment you become accustomed to it, it is no longer a luxury but a necessity. People forget this.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Besides, nobody ever loves you the way you want.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Fine watches, I’d been told, were like rich people themselves: You could barely discern them working.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Only the United States of America deemed ice cream “an essential item for troop morale.” And so it alone continued producing, ordering ice cream freezers on submarines, ice cream freezers on tankers, ice cream freezers on cargo ships. Over the course of the war, the United States military became the largest ice cream manufacturer in history.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Clowns—feh! All that ghastly, forced gaiety, worse than New Year’s Eve.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“People are not sophisticated. They see dark, they think “bad,” “shady,” “untrustworthy.” They see light, they think “clean,” “pure,” “fresh.” Jason tells me this is racist. So sue me: I’m just saying what I’ve observed. In the ice cream industry, you always want your chocolate-based flavors to appear creamy, not earthy or bitter. Our Devil’s Food Cake, our Molten Fudge, our Cocoa-Loco. Marvelous flavors, all of them, but most of them sat in the cases for weeks, slowly crystallizing. Vanilla, meanwhile, is the number-one-selling flavor in America. You can’t tell me this is simply because of the taste. Not when you have rum raisin available. Or mint chip. Yet Aryanism still carries the day, darlings, even in the ice cream freezer. I don’t like this any more than you do. But there it is.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“You scare them, Ma,” Isaac says. Why? Because I made them all sign confidentiality agreements? Because I speak my mind and know exactly what I want? Why should I pretend people are doing me a favor when I’m paying them? I have no use for that sort of nonsense. Once”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“age is so humiliating, darlings. After a while, there is simply no camouflaging your deterioration, and no one ever sees all the strengths you’ve acquired along the way.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“autumn of 1918, I had just started fifth grade when signs began popping up in windows and on doors, on broadsheets plastered on streetlamps around the neighborhood. Suddenly big public gatherings were being discouraged; taverns, moving-picture houses, soda fountains—even churches—grew empty. Nobody knew what it was exactly, except that it started quickly, with a cough and a fever.”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Vittorio, Pasquale, and Rocco had gotten into the habit of lowering the shades and huddling around one of the café tables with a bottle. As the radio played late into the night, they talked quietly—or not at all—until the broadcasts stopped altogether and the three of them stumbled home. Sometimes when I came in early in the mornings to inspect the milk deliveries, I found the wireless still on, spitting static. “Can I show you how we can save money?” I said, opening the ledger. Vittorio put up his hand as if to signal, Stop. “Is it legal?” he said, staring at the bottle in the center of the table. “Of course.” I laughed. “Do I need to sign anything?” “Perhaps later.” “Then just let me know if I do. Leave it for me on the”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“him lazy and stupid, they lashed his knuckles”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

“Who the hell knows where they get these farkakte names for their kids. One of Rita's friends named her son Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva Rosenblatt. Can you imagine? Rita always says, 'It's no big deal. They call him 'Bodi', is all.' Please. And the newspapers say I'm abusive to children?”
― Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street