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The Colossus of New York QUOTES

The Colossus of New York QUOTES

1 " You swallow hard when you discover that the old coffee shop is now a chain pharmacy, that the place where you first kissed so-and-so is now a discount electronics retailer, that where you bought this very jacket is now rubble behind a blue plywood fence and a future office building. Damage has been done to your city. You say, ''It happened overnight.'' But of course it didn't. Your pizza parlor, his shoeshine stand, her hat store: when they were here, we neglected them. For all you know, the place closed down moments after the last time you walked out the door. (Ten months ago? Six years? Fifteen? You can't remember, can you?) And there have been five stores in that spot before the travel agency. Five different neighborhoods coming and going between then and now, other people's other cities. Or 15, 25, 100 neighborhoods. Thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one of them seeing the same thing. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

2 " You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

3 " Maybe we become New Yorkers the day we realize that New York will go on without us. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

4 " New York City does not hold our former selves against us. Perhaps we can extend the same courtesy. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

5 " Cherish your old apartments and pause for a moment when you pass them. Pay tribute, for they are the caretakers for your reinventions. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

6 " The city knows you better than any living person because it has seen you when you are alone. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

7 " As if these daily humiliations and sacrifices mean something, are tallied by the ones who keep the books. Tomorrow we pick up where we left off. Sleep tight. Sleep deep. Sleep the sleep of the successful because somehow you made it through the day without anyone finding out that you are a complete fraud. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

8 " Why should anyone else have it easy. Spoken like a true New Yorker. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

9 " We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning. It was the last time you were going to have Lake Tung Ting shrimp in that kinda shady Chinese restaurant and you had no idea. If you had known, perhaps you would have stepped behind the counter and shaken everyone's hand, pulled out the disposable camera and issued posing instructions. But you had no idea. There are unheralded tipping points, a certain number of times that we will unlock the front door of an apartment. At some point you were closer to the last time than you were to the first time, and you didn't even know it. You didn't know that each time you passed the threshold you were saying goodbye. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

10 " Improbable as it may be, the day still has a few indignities left. The day waters down indignity with frustration to make it last longer. Abomination, thy name is Subway. He cannot enter. They flood through turnstiles, hips banging rods, and will not let him enter. He must get home, but it's all he can do to get halfway in before another one charges at him. A fish out of school. Everybody knows how it works except for him. All of them from every floor are crammed into this one subway car: the makers of memos, the routers of memos, the indexers filers and shredders of memos, the always-at-their-desks and the never-around. How do they all fit. Squabbling like pigeons over stale crumbs of seats. Everyone thinks they are more deserving, everyone thinks their day has been harder than everyone else's, and everyone is correct. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

11 " Live every minute as if you are late for the last train. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

12 " People spare a minute or two relishing other people's setbacks before their own inadequacies distract them again. This is his umpteenth pint but he has a hollow leg or some sort of emptiness in himself and doesn't feel the least bit tipsy. What they take for her air of mystery is merely a side effect of her medication. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

13 " Try to forget bit by bit, it will be easier on you. Leave it behind. Then the plane tilts in its escape and over the gray wing the city explodes into view with all its miles and spires and inscrutable hustle and as you try to comprehend this sight you realize that you were never really there at all. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

14 " This city is reward for all it will enable you to achieve and punishment for all the crimes it will force you to commit. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

15 " The loneliness is the worst, because this knowledge is something that cannot be shared, only suffered. Just as well. Why should anyone else have it easy. Spoken like a true New Yorker. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

16 " IF THEY THINK those two words New York will fix them, who are we to say otherwise. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

17 " Failing at everything except his fear of success. Passed over yet again. Archivist of slights. Everyone else's good fortune is food out of your mouth or a hug you never got from someone who should have loved you better. Halfway through lunch she realized glass ceilings allow glimpses up into another person's hell. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

18 " Did you know that smiling politely burns up the same amount of calories as speaking your mind. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

19 " Tonight the song you always despised strides from the jukebox full-bodied and you hear the lyrics for the first time, understand the lyrics for the first time after all these years. This new you with an older soul. Now it's your favorite. All this time singing the wrong words. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York

20 " Hipsters seek refuge in church, Our Lady of Perpetual Subculture. "

― Colson Whitehead , The Colossus of New York