The Atomic Weight of Love Quotes

“We have to take flight. It's not given to us, served up on a pretty, parsley-bordered platter. We have to take wing. Was I brave enough to do that? Or would I be content to remain earthbound?”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Of course women are flighty, I thought. We have more predators than men.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“What are the evolutionary implications of kindness?”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Take one Naive Girl. Bring to room temperature in the Big City. Add three cups Academia. If in one cup Encouragement. Fold in two drop Love. Sprinkle with one teaspoon Adoration. Mix thoroughly. Spoon carefully into greased Pan of Matrimony. Bake in Desert Heat for 25. Test doneness with Careless Toothpick. Let cool on Wire Rack of Inertia. Serve with generous dollops of Benign Neglect.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“It was magic to be above [the clouds], to see their uppermost contours, the way they caught the light and held it, their vast shadows moving upon the face of the earth. I wished I could open the window and know what the world sounded like at that altitude. I thought about the solitude of that world, how it must be inhabited by the voice of the wind, only. ... I thought about what my crows saw as they flew above canyons and treetops, the birds-eye view of life. They would recognize specific trees, perches, and nesting sites from a completely different perspective than I could. Their maps differed from mine; they knew the topography, the contours of the landscape, on a much grander scale.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Passion walks the edge of control, teasing. It looks down at the rocks in a canyon and contemplates plunging, taking one fatal step to the right. It soars, having released the weight of consciousness of all but the moment. At”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“But Alden never knew how to measure the weight of a sigh. He could not predict the moment when the petal of a spent rose would release and descend. Alden could not tell me when a screech owl would cry out from a darkened pine bough outside my bedroom window and insinuate itself into my dreams. I”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“As I watched him, I wondered how many times a heart can heal. Are we allotted a specific number of comebacks from heartbreak? Or is that what really kills us, in the end—not strokes or cancer or pneumonia—but instead just one too many blows to the heart? Doctors talk of 'cardiac insults'—such a perfect tun of phrase—but they know nothing of the heart, not truly.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“I would not open the door to hope, no matter how exquisite her feathers, how promising and sweet her song. I was done with hope.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“writing is an intensely solitary endeavor, but a story isn't truly heard until many hands have held it.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“To question, to ponder, and to learn. Education was my drug of choice—classrooms, books, lectures, pushing myself to understand.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Of course women are flighty, I thought. We have more predators than men; we have to operate constantly with greater wariness. Women alone in parking lots can be singled out, mugged, or worse. Our own mates can beat us, kill us. I”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“I drew myself alone, but contentedly so, and purposeful.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“And then I waited, which is easy, in concept. In practice, it's difficult to resist the impulse to fill silence, to let the person you love off the hook, to let them be.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“My eighty-eight birthday arrives shortly. I cannot fathom that number of years. I admit to seeing an old woman when I look in the mirror–the short, wispy, flyaway white hair that is evident I cut myself, the thick population of brown spots on the backs of my hands and forearms, the still–vibrant blue eyes– and I am surprised, always, because inside, where I live, I am at most forty, still eager for change, still hungry for learning, still curious, still yearning.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“But Alden never knew how to measure the weight of a sigh. He could not predict the moment when the petal of a spent rose would release and descend. Alden could not tell me when a screech owl would cry out from a darkened pine bough outside my bedroom window and insinuate itself into my dreams.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“1. Among the smartest animals on Earth, the American Crow is highly adaptable.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“I was seeing a crow funeral, as impossible as that seemed. They’d gathered for White Wing. To say good-bye? To honor him? I couldn’t”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Smart, dangerous predators, ravens are larger although more slender than the crow, with a thick neck and shaggy throat feathers.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“A male Steller’s jay, his black head peaked with that bit of stegosaurus spike, joined the other jays in chastising me. I”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“This part of New Mexico was so much greener than Albuquerque, and I could see clear changes in vegetation as we gained altitude,”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“We dropped a second bomb—code-named Fat Man—on Nagasaki on August 9, and on August 15, Japan accepted the terms of an unconditional surrender.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“We ventured east of the Plaza to the cool interior of the minuscule gothic Loretto Chapel to see the wooden spiral staircase,”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“shadowed portico of the Palace of the Governors on the Plaza,”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“RATIONING BEGAN IN EARNEST that summer—sugar, gasoline, even typewriters could only be purchased by using ration coupons. Every man, woman, and child was issued a coupon booklet”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Genetics have given me a tongue I can roll, unattached earlobes, and the recessive trait of clear, light-blue eyes.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“At night, I closed my eyes in my narrow single bed and prayed a godless prayer of gratitude for every moment, every opportunity of each day.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“Careers in science?” “Careers in whatever. But not just careers—I’m thinking of lives of independence. Strong lives. Brave lives. How can a girl who’s only lived”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“A wise friend once told me that we only grow through pain—never through joy or simple contentment. Pain teaches us what we value, and it can teach us who we are (or strive to be). I believe that we build resilience, true strength, only through suffering.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love

“I READ MY POEM “Recipe for Crushed Hope” to the women’s discussion group: Take one Naïve Girl. Bring to room temperature in the Big City. Add three cups Academia. Sift in one cup Encouragement. Fold in two drops Love. Sprinkle with one teaspoon Adoration. Mix thoroughly. Spoon carefully into greased Pan of Matrimony. Bake in Desert Heat for 25 years. Test doneness with Careless Toothpick. Let cool on Wire Rack of Inertia.”
― Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love