Some Trick Quotes

“There are 7 billion people on the planet. Of these, a mere 17 million have the privilege of living in the New York Greater Metropolitan Area.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick

“Sometimes the world is too convincing, as if someone spent too much time on it.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick

“I looked at this polite little sentence & sat crying on the bed —”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick

“Well, here I am, something suitable to mark the occasion — well the whole idea of major and minor keys loud and soft fast and slow comprising suitability seemed fatuous — other grand sombre pieces came to my mind as if to say Of course that little prelude won’t do you want something bigger you want some more dissonances you want something very simple you want something tragic and it was stupid. It was the same when I went to practice, no matter what I did everything seemed stupid, I mean the things one tries to bring out in a passage seemed stupid, the trajectory of a piece seemed stupid, it’s one thing to work on technical difficulties everyone does that from time to time but sooner or later you’ve got to bring the piece to life & now they were just wooden puppets with wooden arms gesturing on a string — I thought, That’s it, I’ll never be able to play again, & I was trying to think of some job, & meanwhile if you can believe it my parents were urging me to get married — Anyway I really didn’t know what to do with myself.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick

“When a human being develops an argument, when a human being attempts not only to think but to speak with precision, he or she is often made to feel that this is a mark of social inadequacy and that there is something comical about it. The younger the human being, the more humorous it becomes. So that humans whose inclination it is to think and speak in this way become self-conscious from an early age, and a kind of minstrelisation creeps in.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“There were all these conservative colors that you don't see any more, this navy blue, navy blue is the hardest color to match so it dates really obviously because the idea people have in their head of a dark neutral blue changes over the years, people in the fashion industry, the way they perceive a dark blue is affected by the other colors they are working with at the time.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“Reflected, framed, the room had charms foreign to the original, just as an ordinary or even ugly object gains beauty and dignity when painted or photographed.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“Brian starts telling stories about Derrida: perfectly happy, it seems, to accept all the privileges of the author. Theories of authorial absence, says Brian, tend to leave out the curious circumstance that the author is always there to pick up his cheque.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“Fashion is out of fashion," says X, in the tone of voice that makes you think, "quipped.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“Why is it, do you suppose," said Edward, "that the Continental breakfast has only to cross the Channel to be so damp and depressing. It seems simple enough; why does it travel so badly? In England one wonders whether it is really meant to be eaten. Here it is invariably ambrosial."

"It is the tyranny of the toast rack," said Maria.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“The subject of food is like Chopsticks: almost anyone can improvise on it.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories

“But if you are going to do something properly you have to plan ahead or you will end up cutting the moment wrong. Then events will be all wrinkled and puckered.”
― Helen DeWitt, Some Trick: Thirteen Stories