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141 " Once, when I was young and true.Someone left me sad -Broke my brittle heart in two;And that is very bad.Love is for unlucky folk,Love is but a curse.Once there was a heart I broke;And that, I think, is worse. "
― Dorothy Parker , Enough Rope
142 " This is me apologizing. I am a fool, a bird-brain, a liar and a horse-thief. I wouldn't touch a superlative again with an umbrella. "
― Dorothy Parker
143 " The ladies men admire, I've heard,Would shudder at a wicked word.Their candle gives a single light,They'd rather stay at home at night.They do not keep awake 'till three,Nor read erotic poetry.They never sanction the impure,Nor recognize an overture.They shrink from powders and from paints...So far I've had no complaints. "
144 " Travel, trouble, music, art, a kiss, a frock, a rhyme --I never said they feed my heart, but still they pass my time. "
― Dorothy Parker , The Portable Dorothy Parker
145 " Now, look, baby, 'Union' is spelled with 5 letters. It is not a four-letter word. "
146 " They say of me, and so they should,It's doubtful if I come to good.I see acquaintances and friendsAccumulating dividendsAnd making enviable namesIn science, art and parlor games.But I, despite expert advice,Keep doing things I think are nice,And though to good I never comeInseparable my nose and thumb. "
147 " There was a reason for the cost of those perfectly plain black dresses. "
148 " The days will rally, wreathingTheir crazy tarantelle;And you must go on breathing,But I'll be safe in hell.Like January weather,The years will bite and smart,And pull your bones togetherTo wrap your chattering heart.The pretty stuff you're made ofWill crack and crease and dry.The thing you are afraid ofWill look from every eye.You will go faltering afterThe bright, imperious line,And split your throat on laughter,And burn your eyes with brine.You will be frail and mustyWith peering, furtive head,Whilst I am young and lustyAmong the roaring dead. "
149 " Then she told herself to stop her nonsense. If you looked for things to make you feel hurt and wretched and unnecessary, you were certain to find them, more easily each time, so easily, soon, that you did not even realize you had gone out searching. Women alone often developed into experts at the practice. She must never join their dismal league. "
150 " How do people go to sleep? I'm afraid I've lost the knack. "
151 " Friends come and go but I wouldn't have thought you'd be one of them "
152 " The cure to boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. "
153 " She can sit up and beg, and she can give her paw —I don't say she will, but she can. "
154 " They say of me, and so they should, It's doubtful if I come to good. "
155 " I'll think about something else. I'll just sit quietly. If I could sit still. If I could sit still, maybe I could read. Oh, all the books are about people who love each other, truly and sweetly. What do they want to write about that for? Don't they know it isn't true? Don't they know it's a lie, it's a God-damned lie? What do they have to tell about that for, when they know how it hurts? "
156 " I'm quite all right. I'm not even scared. You see, I've learned from looking around, there is something worse than loneliness--and that's the fear of it. "
― Dorothy Parker , The Ladies of the Corridor
157 " I'm of the glamorous ladiesAt whose beckoning history shook.But you are a man, and see only my pan,So I stay at home with a book. "
158 " I can’t write five words but that I change seven. "
159 " For a few minutes, everything is so cute that the mind reels.... And then, believe it or not, things get worse. So I shot myself. "
160 " Gertrude Stein did us the most harm when she said, 'You're all a lost generation.' That got around to certain people and we all said, 'Whee! We're lost. "