Carrie Pilby Quotes

“Being lonely isn’t about wanting to be with other people—it’s about wanting to be with people who really care about you.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“The most amazing discovery in the world is someone who understands what you’re about without your having to go through your entire life history to explain it.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“As I get close to the subway, a guy in a raincoat seethes at me, “Smile!” This makes me feel worse. I was lost in thought, minding my own business, and someone felt he had the right to disturb me anyway. Doesn’t he realize that by making me feel like I was doing something wrong, he only made me feel less like smiling? It actually had the reverse effect he intended. It’s like striking a bawling kid to stop him from crying, and we’ve all seen that done.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“There are a great many things I would do a study on if I had the time, materials and funding. It bothers me that I can’t. I wonder if others are irked by this, this incessant drive to plumb a million things and the inability to delve adequately into any one of them.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“But when ninety-five percent of out-of-bed activities hold the possibility of pain, to be pain-free is simply the most delicious feeling in the world.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“I can spot an underemployed lazy intellectual anywhere.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“Being smart doesn’t mean being skilled at social interaction. No one ever said being a genius was easy.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“So how were these people judged? How will we be judged? We get up every morning thinking that if we're good, we'll make it to heaven, and if we're bad, we'll have trouble. But then we see a six-year-old girl die of cancer. We see raging waters and mud swallow innocent people in South America. And we see our neighbor, who cheats on his wife or steals from his boss, become wealthy. We see our cousin, the liar, win the lottery. What sense does this make?"
A few people shake their heads. I want to know, too.
"Got me," Natto says. "Got me. But I'll tell you this. I want to know. I want to find out. And I'll tell you two more things. One is, overall, we have seen a lot of times in life that what comes around goes around, haven't we?"
A few people nod.
"In the case of Venezuela, there's no good explanation. But we see sinners locked up every day, and brave men rewarded. And last night on the news, they showed heroes, people who saved lives in Venezuela. We saw people working together. Rescue workers. Relief workers. And that is God."
He stops pacing.
"That is God," he says again.
He goes back to pacing. He has a strong gait.
"These people do good. And if one of their planes crashed on the way back to whereever they came from? What sense would that make? I don't know. I don't claim to have all the answers. And maybe there are cases where I will never ever understand them. This is something a lot of churches don't want to admit, but I really might never have the answers. And sometimes, this might make me very angry."
I like this.
"But I said there were two more things I'll tell you. One is that we have seen that what comes around goes around. And here's the second thing. We judge within ourselves. Those people in Venezuela, the dying, if they led a good life, they knew it. They died at peace. They knew that they didn't deserve it, that it was just something that happened. But a guy who's been hurting people, who suddenly feels a rumble and the sky caves in, he's lying there, torn apart, and besides the physical pain, he knows in his heart, or he feels in his heart, that he's being punished. He can't lie there and say, "Please God I don't deserve to die". Because he knows he did wrong, and he has to apologize and make amends. And so in that way, judgement comes upon him. And we all know in our hearts, whether we're to be judged in the afterworld or not, that while we're on this earth, we judge ourselves.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“I don't know what the answer is."
If psychologists don't have the answers, and preachers don't, and I don't, who does?
Certainly not anyone who pretends to. They know least of all.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“It's easy to be moral if you have exactly what you want.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“You seem awfully serious for a nineteen-year-old."

I don't know what to say to that. Now I feel bad, just like I felt when the guy yelled "Smile." As if I was doing something wrong just by existing.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“How come everyone tells me what to do, but they would never let me do a tenth of the same back to them?”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby

“If I had to do my own (favorite) film character list, #1 would be CF Cane. #2 would be Nurse Ratched, #3 would be Dr. Strangelove, and #4-21 would be Sybil.”
― Caren Lissner, Carrie Pilby