“An old man with overalls walked by; I don't think old people should wear overalls; it makes them look like shrivelly toddlers.” — Aimee Bender Aging Copy Share Image
Novels are so much unrulier and more stressful to write. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and… — Aimee Bender Balancing Copy Share Image
“We are all, generally, symmetrical: ants, elephants, lions, fish, flowers, leaves. But she was a tree. No one expects a tree to… — Aimee Bender Symmetrical Copy Share Image
I like the idea of a place that is dealing with painful, messy, frightening, and very human events that is also so… — Aimee Bender Also Copy Share Image
“The address label wouldn't come off so I put the ripped electric bill back in its stack by the phone. On top… — Aimee Bender Phone Bills Copy Share Image
“The world can ask you to participate, but it's a day-today decision if you want to agree to that proposal.” — Aimee Bender Depression Copy Share Image
I could feel the tears beginning to collect in my throat again, but I pushed them apart, away from each other. Tears… — Aimee Bender Away from each other Copy Share Image
“We're like the couple on the sitcom that has good sparks but never get together for the sake of ratings.” — Aimee Bender Attraction Copy Share Image
I don't eschew autobiographical writing, but I'm not interested in mine to be so straightforward. The things that tend to move me… — Aimee Bender Ability Copy Share Image
“She was tired these days because she was having job trouble too; her trouble meant she did not know how she could… — Aimee Bender Couples Copy Share Image
There's a spectrum of those moments of connection and the moments we fail to connect, going from super-large successes to failures. Success… — Aimee Bender Bad Copy Share Image
“I loved my dish towel. This one was two-toned, and had, on one side, stitchings of fat purple roses on a lavender… — Aimee Bender Background Copy Share Image
Glen Hirshberg's stories are haunting, absolutely, but not only because of the content -- the stories themselves haunt, they stick around, they… — Aimee Bender Books Copy Share Image
“With hand gestures, you can fill in a lot of gaps, and the words thing and stuff and -ness also help: patientness… — Aimee Bender Gestures Copy Share Image
I did plays in college, and I have half of a play. But I'm kind of stuck. I keep revisiting it so… — Aimee Bender About Copy Share Image
“I like to smile at the men who look mean so they know I believe in their better selves. That makes a… — Aimee Bender Bettering-life Copy Share Image
My genes, my love, are rubber bands and rope; make yourself a structure you can live inside. Amen." — Aimee Bender (Willful… — Aimee Bender Amen Copy Share Image
But I loved George in part because he believed me; because if I stood in a cold, plain room and yelled FIRE,… — Aimee Bender Ask me Copy Share Image
“Sherrie would be there, and the last time I’d seen her at a social event she burst into tears when she saw… — Aimee Bender Food Copy Share Image
“It is difficult to want to tell a grave that it is not immortal. It's so obvious at that point.” — Aimee Bender Death Copy Share Image
“I can’t tell you exactly what I’m looking for, but I’ll know it when it happens. I want to be breathless and… — Aimee Bender Love Copy Share Image
“When she left the store, emboldened, receipt tucked into her purse, folded twice, Janet thought of all the chicken dishes she had… — Aimee Bender Chicken Copy Share Image
There's a gift in your lap and it's beautifully wrapped and it's not your birthday. You feel wonderful, you feel like somebody… — Aimee Bender Alive Copy Share Image
“He moved his fingers down her whole spine, one by one by one, and during the time it took to do that,… — Aimee Bender Empty space Copy Share Image
“On the drive home, she sat in the backseat, as she did on occasion. He said it was to protect her from… — Aimee Bender Backseat Copy Share Image
“Joseph would reach out to me occasionally, the same way the desert blooms a flower every now and then. You get so… — Aimee Bender Blooms Copy Share Image
I admired that stride; it was like he folded space in two with it. — Aimee Bender Folded Copy Share Image
It is so often surprising, who rescues you at your lowest moments. — Aimee Bender Lowest Copy Share Image
The writing I tend to think of as 'good' is good because it's mysterious. — Aimee Bender Good Copy Share Image
I was with them for all of it, but more like an echo than a participant. — Aimee Bender Echo Copy Share Image
I liked Hans Christian Andersen because the tales were so dark and tragic. — Aimee Bender Because Copy Share Image
“I will never die, thought the cake to itself, in even simpler terms, as cakes did not have sophisticated use of language.” — Aimee Bender Cake Copy Share Image
I'm obsessed with adolescence. I love to write about people in their 20s. It's such a fraught and exciting and kind of… — Aimee Bender About Copy Share Image
Generally, I think most of my writing tends to have some kind of magical element to it. That's the way I can… — Aimee Bender Access Copy Share Image
I love food. I'm not a great cook, but I love to cook, and I like how different it is from writing. — Aimee Bender Cook Copy Share Image
“but the rest of the evening is nothing but the trembling edges of something I am so tired of feeling and I… — Aimee Bender Sleep Copy Share Image
We hit the sidewalk, and dropped hands. How I wished, right then, that the whole world was a street. — Aimee Bender Hands Copy Share Image
