The Clean House Quotes

“There once was a very great American surgeon named Halsted. He was married to a nurse. He loved her—immeasurably. One day Halsted noticed that his wife’s hands were chapped and red when she came back from surgery. And so he invented rubber gloves. For her. It is one of the great love stories in medicine. The difference between inspired medicine and uninspired medicine is love.
When I met Ana, I knew:
I loved her to the point of invention.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“No, you're not. If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have done it. We do as we please, and then say we're sorry. But we're not sorry. We're just uncomfortable--watching other people in pain.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“A good joke cleans your insides out. If I don't laugh for a week, I feel dirty. I feel dirty now, like my insides are rotting.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“No extra hospital words. I don't want a relationship with disease. I want to have a relationship with death. That's important. But to have a relationship with disease--that's some kind of bourgeoisie invention. And I hate it.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“The difference between inspired medicine and uninspired medicine is love.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“The perfect joke makes you forget about your life. The perfect joke makes you remember about your life. The perfect joke is stupid when you write it down. The perfect joke was not made up by one person. It passed through the air and you caught it.
A perfect joke is somewhere between an angel and a fart.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“A perfect joke is somewhere between an angel and a fart.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“A good joke cleans your insides out. If I don't laugh for a week, I feel dirty. I feel dirty now, like my insides are rotting.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“People talk about cancer like it’s this special thing you have a relationship with. And it becomes blood count, biopsy, chemotherapy, radiation, bone marrow, blah blah blah blah blah. As long as I live I want to retain my own language.
Mientras tengo vida, quiero procurar mantener mi proprio idioma.

No extra hospital words. I don’t want a relationship with a disease. I want to have a relationship with death. That’s important. But to have a relationship with a disease—that’s some kind of bourgeois invention. And I hate it.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“You say a prayer, Virginia. A prayer cleans the air the way water cleans the dirt.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

“If more women knew more jokes, there would be more justice in the world.”
― Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House