“We drove past our old house,” the woman told me, “and I noticed that the tree he had watered through the droughts and cared for over the years had been cut down. He must have noticed too. I didn’t say… — Eula Biss Copy Share Image
“Sometimes he gives a little flourish with his fingers that makes me wonder if all his movements are a quiet performance.” — Eula Biss Copy Share
“I pause when the man at the register lays down a red carnation with my change, says quietly, “This is for you,” and turns… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“Sonata,” he says, “means ‘sounding together.’ It is an argument in which one theme is presented in opposition to another and they struggle until… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“I think I remember him saying that the problem with a tire fire is that it can smolder for years, burning quietly but uncontrollably.” — Eula Biss Copy Share
Wealthier countries have the luxury of entertaining fears the rest of the world cannot afford. — Eula Biss Copy Share
“as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” What” — Eula Biss Copy Share
A trust-in the sense of a valuable asset placed in the care of someone to whom it does not ultimately belong-captures, more or less,… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“When he says, “Why can’t you follow a recipe?” I am hurt, because I know that he is not just asking why I can’t… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“We had been arguing for hours and it was dark in the room. We sat silently on the couch, I was tapping my foot… — Eula Biss Copy Share
I thought, how would I feel if my son gave one of those [underprivileged] kids chicken pox? For him it's not a terrible thing.… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“Mother: “He used to say that you could lock me in a closet and I’d still get something out of it. I guess that’s… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“I was shaking when I asked my mother, “Do you think you eat enough?” She was silent for a long time until she said… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“Black is closing in around my eyes. I realize with a great, tired sadness that I am losing the world. The walls, the molding… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“He thinks I don’t pay attention. He has been talking and I have been silently naming the scents of everything we are crushing under… — Eula Biss Copy Share
“Whiteness is not a kinship or a culture. White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, that we are to black… — Eula Biss Copy Share
