The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding Quotes

“If there was one thing that made humans uncomfortable, it was silence. They didn’t know what to do with it, except to fill it with words that gave away their inner thoughts—an arsenal of useful information.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“We’re all animals—it’s how we act that sets us apart from the riffraff.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Growing out of childhood doesn’t always mean you can survive adulthood,”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“You think that money makes you civilized? Or less greedy? It makes it easier for a person to hide how barbaric they really are.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men. —J. Robert Oppenheimer”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The total amount of energy and matter in the universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“But love blinded him, just like every fallible human with a soul that ever walked the earth.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Ruby put on a smile. It was like adding a fresh coat of lipstick. Armor. Didn’t always change how she felt inside, which lately was wretched and heartsick and frightened of the world, but it helped. We fight, because there’s no other choice.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“They had shared something that much of the rest of the world would call an atrocity, but for those moments, it had been a new bloom, full of everything beautiful and right.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Her life was over. And she wondered . . . was it really ever hers at all?”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Perhaps this was part of the punishment. Realizing, all too late, that with all your good deeds and all your sins, nothing really matters. Heartache comes to all.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“I had indeed taken several lovers in college. It was far too easy for me to find a beautiful mind and tender character attractive. No matter which type of body housed that mind and character. There was an irresistible beauty in all forms that God made.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“a few months later, she declared she wanted to be a doctor. A woman doctor!”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“It was so nice to let those letters be a repository for all her worries; they dissolved into the world and away from her.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Love and affection were not the same thing. One, she had plenty of. The other, she was starving for.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Being a man, a white man, made all the difference in the world when it came to getting his way.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“When men acted in this manner, he knew exactly how to handle things. In this bathroom, with those unwavering eyes and that contralto voice, he had lost his bearings.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Everything smelled burnt. And yet, the gear didn’t bother her at all. She felt all the more powerful wearing it, and couldn’t care less if it made her unfeminine. It was such a wonderful feeling, not being the weakest link in the chain.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Now, just because your clothes are practical, doesn’t mean you ought to stop being beautiful.” She looked pointedly away from Maggie this time. “Lipstick and powder are acceptable, so long as your primping does not take away time from work.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“It was a funny thing: when every day was extraordinary, it was the ordinary that became ever so odd.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“They say that a nuclear chain reaction begins with one simple event—the absorption of an extra nuclear particle—before calamity inevitably destroys everything it touches.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Half the world would win, and half would lose in this second world war.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“The usual evening dimout would go a step further. Lights at all stores and buildings would turn off. Even the Liberty torch, already low lit with two-hundred-watt bulbs, would go dark, lighting the way for no souls.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Ruby still managed to always leave a thin layer of the unknown between them. Like a piece of film negative that only let some of the light through.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding

“Maggie stammered. “They gave it to me when I was having a . . . crisis.”
― Lydia Kang, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding