12 quotes
Even after the only person whose opinion I cared about left on a boat for America, I continued to fill pages with her name.
The History of Love (2005)
All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen.
The History of Love (2005)
Perhaps that is what it means to be a father- to teach your child to live without you. If so, no one was a greater father than I.
The History of Love (2005)
These things were lost to oblivion like so much about so many who are born and die without anyone ever taking the time to write it all down.
The History of Love (2005)
The words of our childhood became strangers to us- we couldn't use them in the same way and so we chose not to use them at all. Life demanded a new language.
The History of Love (2005)
Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.
The History of Love (2005)
Sometimes I forget that the world is not on the same schedule as I. That everything is not dying, or that if it is dying it will return to life, what with a little sun and the usual encouragement.
The History of Love (2005)
When I got up again, I'd shed the only part of me that had ever thought I'd find words for even the smallest bit of life.
The History of Love (2005)
When I got older I decided I wanted to be a real writer. I tried to write about real things. I wanted to describe the world, because to live in an undescribed world was too lonely.
The History of Love (2005)
Sometimes I think: I am older than this tree, older than this bench, older than the rain. And yet. I'm not older than the rain. It's been falling for years and after I go it will keep on falling.
The History of Love (2005)
The little boy I watched throwing pebbles into the empty fountain [...] You could tell that he had too much wisdom for his age. Probably he believed that he wasn't made for this world. I wanted to say to him: If not you, who?
The History of Love (2005)
Everything is an old story, even what we think of as the "self" is just a narrative that our parents began telling when we were born, of which we take up authorship.
Interview with NPR (2019)