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When No One Is Watching QUOTES

When No One Is Watching QUOTES

1 " It's the last sorry that breaks me. He's said a few times, but this one finally sinks in. I've gotten so used to apologizing for being too weak to carry my own burdens — I don't know if anyone's ever apologized to me for how heavy they are, even if they couldn't do anything to lighten the load. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

2 " They can break, but they can't erase. They can build but they can't bury us. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

3 " Our kiss is like two drowning people searching for a life preserver, finding each other instead, and deciding that roaring waves aren't so bad if you can fuck in the lulls between them. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

4 " People bury the parts of history they don't like, pave it over like African cemeteries beneath Manhattan skyscrapers. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

5 " No one had second-guessed whether we belonged or were a good investment. The realtors had talked about how we were a part of a wave of new people coming in to enrich the neighborhood, make it better and more valuable, without knowing a damn thing about us.
No, that's not true. The realtors had known one thing, that I was starting to see was more important than I'd realized.
Us.
Them. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

6 " Sydney.” Theo is grinning as he calls my attention back to him, though his eyes are somber. “I need you to channel the confidence of a mediocre white man. I’ll give you mine. We’ll figure it out because we don’t have any other choice. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

7 " They can break, but they can't erase," Gracie says. "They can build but they can't bury us. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

8 " My neck and chest go hot in a flash and I look away. I should just start building my cabin alongside Fuckboy Creek because obviously it’s where I intend to spend the rest of my days. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

9 " In all the times I'd moved in New York, I'd only thought about how safe the area was for me, not what my presence meant for people in the neighborhood. Not about what advantages I had that they didn't. I was poor, too, after all, even though I had figured out how not to be, for a little white at least. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

10 " I need you to channel the confidence of a mediocre white man. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

11 " When I think of a Black community, the first thing that comes to mind—even if I don’t want it to—is crime. Drugs. Gangs. Welfare. That’s all the news has talked about since I was a kid. Not old people drinking tea. Not complex self-sustaining financial systems that had to be created because racism means being left out to dry. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

12 " I’m not the only one who needs this right now. Our kiss is like two drowning people searching for a life preserver, finding each other instead, and deciding that roaring waves aren’t so bad if you can fuck in the lulls between them. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

13 " Oh wait. You’re Kim’s latest? Weren’t you at the house last summer?” the husband asks while Sydney’s gone. “She always picks up the most interesting playthings. I guess you do, too. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

14 " You’re just trying to create a false sense of camaraderie because you think it’ll make me trust you. Then you can convince me to sell so you can pocket that sweet, sweet commission. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

15 " really am an asshole. My girlfriend is leaving suddenly, probably cheating on me, and I’m jealous of the lobster rolls and amenities she’s going to enjoy. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

16 " It’s better this way; a warm body in bed is nice in the winter but it’s too damn hot for cuddling in the summer unless you want to run the AC nonstop, and I don’t have AC-nonstop money at the moment. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

17 " Sunday school teacher why Jesus would forgive Lou for hitting my mom instead of just making him stop it if he really was so powerful. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

18 " One time when I was about eight, I woke her up to tell her a monster was living under my bed. She told me to get the .22 and shoot it, then take my behind to sleep. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

19 " You work at the public school. This is going to be an independent school priced just high enough to do the work of segregation for the people who will send their kids there. In the building that was one of the first schools for Black children in America.” Kendra shakes her head. “I doubt it was purposeful, but ain’t that something? "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching

20 " While Sydney makes for a nice fantasy, my reality is being stuck in a co-owned house with a woman who barely acknowledges my existence, let alone our relationship. "

― Alyssa Cole , When No One Is Watching