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1 " He wondered how we know that what happens to us isn't good. "
― Amy Hempel , Reasons to Live
2 " What you forget, living here, is that just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater. "
3 " I think it was that love that I loved. That kind of involvement was reassuring; I felt it would extend to me, as well. That it did not or that it did, but only as much and no more, was confusing at first. "
4 " When she sees him, Holly says, it's like the sunsets at the beach--once the sun drops, the sand chills quickly. Then it's like a lot of times that were good ten minutes ago and don't count now. "
5 " Tutto quello che ho fatto con te era amore. "
6 " Here is what you do. You ease yourself into a tub of water, you ease yourself down. You lie back and wait for the ripples to smooth away. Then you take a deep breath, and slide your head under, and listen for the playfulness of your heart. "
7 " Ho esagerato ancora prima di cominciare, perché è vero: niente è mai grave quanto potrebbe essere. "
8 " E penso a quel detto che ripetono sempre tutti: "la vita è dura... e poi muori". A dire il vero, non è affatto così. Questo lo dicono loro. La vita è dura: su questo hanno ragione. Ma quei giorni che dovrebbero essere la parte peggiore? Su questo si sbagliano. E' la tua vita, il resto della tua vita, la parte peggiore. "
9 " Mi immaginavo noi due che cuocevamo le mele per Natale, quegli stupidi quadretti romantici alla Currier e Ives... pensavo per tutto il tempo: A volte quello che abbiamo passa per amore, quando invece avrei dovuto pensare: L'amore passa. "
10 " Alcuni di noi soffrono in silenzio di un male rumoroso. E questo è quanto ho da dire sulla paura. "
11 " It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a commonplace thing. The example he gave--and the liar said it really happened--was that once while drinking orange juice, he'd realized he would be dead someday. He wondered if we, his students, had had similar 'realizations.'Is he kidding? I thought.Once I cashed a paycheck and I realized it wasn't enough.Once I had food poisoning, and realized I was trapped inside my body. "
12 " She introduces me to a nurse as the Best Friend. The impersonal article is more intimate. It tells me that they are intimate, the nurse and my friend.'I was telling her we used to drink Canada Dry ginger ale and pretend were were in Canada' 'That's how dumb we were,' I say. 'You could be sisters,' the nurse says. So how come, I'll bet they are wondering, it took me so long to get to such a glorious place? But do they ask? They do not ask. Two months, and how long is the drive? The best I can explain it is this - I have a friend who worked one summer in a mortuary. He used to tell me stories. The one that really got to me was not eh grisliest, but it's the one that did. A man wrecked his care on 101 going south. He did not lose consciousness. But his arm was taken down to the bone - and when he looked at it - it scared him to death. I mean, he died. So I hadn't dared to look any closer. But now I'm doing it - and hoping that I will live through it. "
13 " All those years on the psychiatrist's couch and suddenly the couch is moving.Good God, she is on that couch when the big one hits.Maidy didn't tell you, but you know what her doctor said? She sprang from the couch and said, "My God, was that an earthquake?"The doctor said this: "Did it feel like an earthquake to you? "
14 " I play back everything that has happened to me before this. I want to ask Big Guy if he is doing this, too. I want him to know what it clearly seems to me: that if it’s true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive? "