Breakfast at Sally's Quotes

“It is better to have no hope than just a little hope. A little hope just gets you thinking something good is about to happen. And when that little hope is taken away, you are worse off than before.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The lack of respect American children show for their parents may be the worst byproduct of our capitalistic, throwaway society.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The Civil War didn’t end slavery in the United States. In fact, there is more slavery today in this country than ever before. Each week, containers of Chinese men, women, and children are landing in San Francisco, San Diego, New York, and Seattle. They have been sold into slavery and must pay off their debt by working in sweatshops making clothing, or selling their bodies in prostitution.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“Those without a roof over their heads could escape with Wolfe, Kafka, or Robert Louis Stevenson and have shelter from the heat and the cold, the rain and the pain.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“A hug—the elixir for the human soul.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“do you think Jesus would do if he came back to earth tonight in Bremerton?” C asked, as he spooned some rice onto his plate. “I don’t know,” I said, savoring a mouthful of Mongolian beef. “Would he come in a white robe and sandals, or the dress of this time?” C pressed on. I shrugged my shoulders, forking in the fried rice. “Would he be white, black, Asian, or maybe look like Saddam Hussein instead of Kevin Costner or Tom Cruise? What if he didn’t fit our image of him? What if he was bald? Or, for God’s sake, what if he was gay? “He wouldn’t have any cash, no MasterCard, Visa, Discover Card, or portfolio of any kind. If he went to a bank and said, ‘Hello. I’m Jesus, the son of God. I need some of those green things that say “In God We Trust” on them to buy some food and get a place to stay,’ the bank manager would say, ‘I’m sorry, but I looked in my computer and without a social security number, local address, and credit history, I can’t do anything for you. Maybe if you show me a miracle or two, I might lend you fifty dollars.’ “Where would he stay? The state park charges sixteen dollars a night. Could he go to a church and ask, ‘May I stay here? I am Jesus’? Would they believe him?” As I took a sip of my drink, I wondered just who this character was sitting across from me. Was he some angel sent to save me? Or was he, as the Rolling Stones warned in their song, Satan himself here to claim me for some sin of this life or a past life of which I had no recollection? Or was he an alien? Or was he Jesus, the Christ himself, just “messing” with me? Was I in the presence of a prophet, or just some hopped-up druggie? “‘Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.’ That’s what Jesus said. What doors would be opened to him?” he asked. “The Salvation Army—Sally’s?” I guessed. “That’s about all,” C said. “Unless he saw Tony Robbins’ TV formula to become a millionaire and started selling miracles to the rich at twenty-thousand dollars a pop. He could go on Regis, Oprah, maybe get an interview with Bill Moyers, or go on Nightline. Or joust with the nonbelievers on Jerry Springer! Think of the book deals! He”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“I had a reason and a passion to live. I had learned grace, found a new dignity—a real one, not based on what I owned—and a new identity, one that I loved. I was going to write a book.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“C had spread a roadmap before me with many paths to choose from. I could go on a bitter journey to a place of anger and hate, or head out on the highway of grace and kindness, though it may be the road less traveled and in greater need of repair.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“In my seemingly endless months of sleeping on the streets, I knew of only one other person who had slept in a church by himself overnight, and that was only because he had had pneumonia and someone had taken pity on him. I was the only one who had been invited to occupy the half-million square feet of empty church space in town.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“I couldn’t explain to my son what was happening to me—he had no frame of reference for my depression. I hardly understood it myself.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The homeless were my new family. They embraced me. They waved and smiled and treated me with dignity and respect. We may be the most misunderstood and feared people in America, I thought, but we are still family to each other.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“I was no different from millions of others—from the millions of teenagers on the street to the millions of aging heroes stored away like luggage in nursing homes across the country; I knew that I was in my family’s way.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“Gone on a Mexican cruise. C.” I chuckled, pretty sure the note meant C had gone ten rounds with Jose Cuervo and was sleeping it off.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“I had no dreams now. There was no magical feeling. And if there were a wizard, I would wish him to appear and wave his wand over me and ease me into a peaceful sleep, forever—never to return.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The homeless are human beings,” he said. “Okay, so they are people with problems—some greater than others. But there is no problem that can’t be overcome with love, patience, and kindness. Given help and a sense of direction, most will help themselves and even help others.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“And you know, unless people have been there—lost, alone, rejected, feeling worthless and unwanted—they just can’t know that numb feeling that drags you down. All the dreams are gone, gone forever. You’re just hoping for some force to end the nightmare peacefully.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“You know, the big thing that sets the homeless apart is that they usually only commit crimes out of desperation,” C continued. “Those with homes and jobs commit crimes out of boredom or hatred or greed.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conservatively estimates that one out of every three homeless men is a veteran.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, veterans make up twenty-three percent of America’s homeless population.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“There were no parades or parties or dancing in the streets like after World War II. No breast-beating pride or songs of victory. It was a moment of shame in United States history.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“All of our wars were carried on the backs of the poor and the sons of the poor. The poor were the first to fight and the first to die.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The poor died first and last in World War I, World War II, and Korea, and fifty-eight thousand Americans died in Vietnam, many of them paupers.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“Many Wednesdays had come and gone in my sixty years. I don’t believe I particularly remembered any of them.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“The breakfast crowd at Sally’s was usually made up of homeless men.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“As we left the death watch, it occurred to me that we were all homeless in some way. It seemed that we were all psychically frozen somewhere—the half-dead, the on-the-way-to-dead, the blessedly dead—and at that moment, I wasn’t sure which one defined me best.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“Let us be dissatisfied as long as we have a wealth of creeds and poverty of deeds.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“DO all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can at all the times you can to all the people you can. As long as ever you live.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“Listen,” C said, leaning toward me. “People are talking about issues—about books, art, music, and faraway places. They are sharing ideas instead of talking about other people, their husbands, their problems, their cars, and their possessions. Ahhhh ... this is heaven!”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's

“RICHARD LEMIEUX lived on the streets of Bremerton, Washington, with his dog, Willow, for a year and a half while writing Breakfast at Sally’s. They lived and slept in his Oldsmobile van. Richard wrote on a secondhand manual typewriter at picnic tables in parks around the city.”
― Richard LeMieux, Breakfast at Sally's