Rewards Quotes

“The forced conversation. The requisite swapping of biographical details, the desperate trawl for some crossover. Anything to distract from the basic commerce of the transaction, the deception at its heart: as if any of this would make you more attractive, would even out the unfairness of how beauty or privilege was handed out.”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“he was taking care of himself, because there was nothing to do in this life but take care of himself, make his lunch, and brush his teeth, and try to enjoy his days off.”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“The cat was ill tempered, pink eyed, and unloved. Still, at least Paula had taken care of it. No one had ever thanked her. Didn’t she deserve a reward? Didn’t she deserve one good thing?”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“He was taking care of himself, because there was nothing to do in this life but take care of himself, make his lunch, and brush his teeth, and try to enjoy his days off. Didn’t he know to hope for something better?”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“Any secret you kept made the other person, no matter what, seem stupid, because why didn’t they figure it out? And soon enough you thought to yourself, Why do I love someone who’s so stupid?”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“[Her] heart was beating fast, but it wasn’t from anxiety. It was just pure, clean adrenaline, the dumb happiness of power.”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“People like her mother or the entrepreneurs who came on the show, who dreamed so fervently of becoming rich: they wanted to be fussed over like this, to have murmured compliments let loose in the air around their closed eyes. They wanted to have the power in every interaction tilted decisively in their direction.”
― Emma Cline, Rewards

“probably always gotten them what they wanted until they started to believe it was what they deserved.”
― Emma Cline, Rewards