The Female of the Species QUOTES

1 " I seem to remember even from when I was very young that when you loved someone you also hated them for making you love them, since loving someone is so incredibly humiliating. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

2 " Sometimes things end worse for one side than the other. These 'injured parties' always seem to see themselves as victims of a moral outrage. They never feel simply rejected, but also abused. I've known many women who were great believers in the curative powers of indignation. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

3 " All these men afraid of bein’ crowded, ain’t they? They need all this room, they afraid some woman gonna crawl in their head and take over. Well, surprise, surprise. Ain’t nobody crawlin’ in there ’cept you, honey, and you get older and older and it get stuffy in there. Let me tell you, you afraid of other folks takin’ away your elbow room, well, just relax. You born alone, you die alone, and you get any kind of company in between, you one lucky boy. Bein’ by yourself ain’t no accomplishment. Ain’t like being no kind of hero. Ray, see, Ray sho ’nough figures he gettin’ away with somethin’, understand me? He think he a clever boy, runnin’ round with whores, gettin’ diseases, drinkin’ his heart out till five in the a.m. Lucky Ray, huh? Well, what Raymond Harris gettin’ away with is not see his kids grow up, and when he do come back they call him Mr. Harris ’steada Daddy, and they shake his hand ’steada kiss his cheek, and they spit when he turn his back. And I spit, too, though I’ll take him in again and love him, ’cause that’s what I’s here to do. But I spit anyways, ’cause he such a dumb sucker, understand me? ’Less stupid ole Ray Harris die by hisself in some alleyway. Sho, run away. Best way in the world to be nothin’. Risk endin’ up croaked by garbage cans, when he could die in my arms?” Leonia put her coffee cup in its saucer, and it rattled softly. “That no way to be the big man, baby. That just be dumb and sad. You got me? "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

4 " One of the things I learned with Charles," said Gray carefully, "was that finding someone like you does not necessarily mean that either of you should be that way. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

5 " Some people think that asking a question gives them a right to know the answer somehow. Well, it's not true. You've no right to anything. I'll tell you what I want to. I don't care what you ask. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

6 " I've found that people's generalizations are largely illuminating about themselves. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

7 " Stop there.” For the first time since Nora had left, Raphael spoke. Frank had been about to make another lunge, but thought better of it. His son was pointing a ten-inch carving blade at a point just below his chest. The bevel had recently been sharpened. “You little son-of-a-bitch, put that down.” But Frank didn’t move. “You aren’t hitting me anymore,” said Raphael distinctly. “You know that, don’t you?” “Boy, you got any idea what they do to a kid who runs through his own father? It don’t look good, Ralph. You don’t just get a slap on the wrist and a pat on the ass.” Still, Frank didn’t move. “You aren’t hitting me anymore,” Raphael repeated. “Go upstairs. Don’t come down.” Now, Frank had read his share of tabloids, and this scene in the kitchen must have looked like eerily familiar front-page material. When Raphael took a step forward then, leading with the tip of the blade, Frank took a step back, though this kid "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

8 " Sometimes I feel it right under my ribs. In my throat. Under my breastbone. It moves around. Sometimes it lodges in my lower back, and I slump in my chair. It’s an ache. It feels a little bit like having a mobile tumor or blood clot or kidney stone. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

9 " It was never possible to do something back to someone that would undo what he had done to you. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species

10 " That was one thing you could say for a life of complications: it made for good stories, though someone had always suffered for them. "

― Lionel Shriver , The Female of the Species