Quotes Flashcards
He knew, though, that the price of his intactness
was incompleteness.
Book II, Ch. 1
“After her mother died when she was little she used to come
into my bed every morning, sometimes she’d sleep in my bed. I
was sorry for the little thing. Oh, after that, whenever we went
places in an automobile or a train we used to hold hands. She
used to sing to me. We used to say, ‘Now let’s not pay any attention to anybody else this afternoon—let’s just have each
other—for this morning you’re mine.’” A broken sarcasm came
into his voice. “People used to say what a wonderful father and
daughter we were—they used to wipe their eyes. We were just
like lovers—and then all at once we were lovers—and ten
minutes after it happened I could have shot myself—except I
guess I’m such a Goddamned degenerate I didn’t have the
nerve to do it.”
- “That’s strange. Because when I was twelve Mother and
Baby and I once spent a winter there,” and she pointed to a
hotel directly across the street. The two dingy fronts stared at
them, gray echoes of girlhood. Book 1, Ch. 16
“Well, what if you hadn’t gone in that pool that day—I sometimes wonder about such things. Just before the war we were
in Berlin—I was thirteen, it was just before Mother died. My
sister was going to a court ball and she had three of the royal
princes on her dance card, all arranged by a chamberlain and
everything. Half an hour before she was going to start she had
a side ache and a high fever. The doctor said it was appendicitis and she ought to be operated on. But Mother had her plans
made, so Baby went to the ball and danced till two with an ice
pack strapped on under her evening dress. She was operated
on at seven o’clock next morning.” Bk 1, Ch 12
