We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive. — Amy Hempel Alive Copy Share Image
I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
I thought, my love is so good, why isn't it calling the same thing back. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
He could not wait to get rid of them so he could enjoy remembering them. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
There's no such thing as luck. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. — Amy Hempel Luck Copy Share Image
consolation is a beautiful word. everyone skins his knee-that doesnt make yours hurt anyless. — Amy Hempel Beautiful Copy Share Image
I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
“I like radio personalities, and I like to change lanes. And losing yourself on the freeway is like living at the beach--you're… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
When my mother died, my father's early widowhood gave him social cachet he would not have had if they had divorced. He… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
“Women who are attacked phone a hotline for advice. "Don't report a rape," the women are told. "Call it indecent exposure. A… — Amy Hempel Rape Copy Share Image
“And it was the first time that I believed the claim that you can help a person more by asking them the… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true — nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes… — Amy Hempel Alive Copy Share Image
I told him about the way they get to know you. Not the way people do, the way they flatter you by… — Amy Hempel Animal Copy Share Image
Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of… — Amy Hempel Better person Copy Share Image
Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
As soon as I knew that I would be all right, I was sure that I was dead and didn't know it.… — Amy Hempel Death Copy Share Image
A five-hour flight works out to three days and nights on land, by rail, from sea to shining sea. You can chalk… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
I've always known when I start a story what the last line is. It's always been the case, since the first story… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it.… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
“For example, the questions that say, "Would you prefer..." "Would you prefer (a) Answer questions about what you do, (b) Answer questions… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
I think of the chimp, the one with the talking hands. In the course of the experiment, that chimp had a baby.… — Amy Hempel Animal Copy Share Image
“It comes back to the question, whom are you writing for? Who are the readers you want? Who are the people you… — Amy Hempel Books Copy Share Image
“The psychic said I would have two children. This makes me shake my head. I know you are not supposed to leave… — Amy Hempel Baby Copy Share Image
“Automatic is what I can manage. Isn't there enough to pay attention to OUTSIDE the car? All I want inside a car… — Amy Hempel Music Copy Share Image
“She introduces me to a nurse as the Best Friend. The impersonal article is more intimate. It tells me that they are… — Amy Hempel Best friend Copy Share Image
“And what about the certainty I feel regarding you? You could say that an hour is not a lot to go on.… — Amy Hempel Certainty Copy Share Image
It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey. — Amy Hempel Animal Copy Share Image
