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Emma Bull Quotes

She lifted her head. It's easier, she said, slowly, to be angry on someone else's behalf than on my own. And yet I find I have a well of anger in me, that I have been filling for years from my own hurts. If I spill it

She lifted her head. "It's easier," she said, slowly, "to be angry on someone else's behalf than on my own. And yet I find I have a well of anger in me, that I have been filling for years from my own hurts. If I spill it out in defense of another, I can deny it's mine.

Hurt, Years, Defense

Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.

Destiny, Use, Coincidence In Life

Emma Bull (2009). “Bone Dance: A Fantasy for Technophiles”, p.22, Macmillan

We're all immortal until we die.

Immortal, Dies

Is negative space the space you don't like, or the space that is not there? And if it's not there how can you tell?

Space, Negative, Negative Space

Sex without love is like a goddamn business transaction. And sometimes both parties feel as if they got a good deal, but that doesn't make it any less so.

Sex, Party, Love Is

Emma Bull (2004). “War for the Oaks: A Novel”, p.211, Macmillan

Sometimes, she reflected, she dressed for courage, sometimes for success, and sometimes for the consolation of knowing that whatever else went wrong, at least she liked her clothes.

Clothes, Knowing, Sometimes

Emma Bull (2004). “War for the Oaks: A Novel”, p.43, Macmillan

Here's what I think I'm having trouble with: this is what happiness is. When I was a kid, I thought I'd just get happier and happier as I got older, and have more things to be happy about. I based this theory on observation of select adults. The problem with my results is that I couldn't tell the difference then between happy and fake-happy. Now I know you pretend to be just frigging ecstatic over everything, maybe because you're so glad it's not worse.

Kids, Thinking, Differences

To those who see the magical surface of things, you are invisible.' Good grief. Will you still be able to see me?' He met her eyes in a way that made her shiver pleasantly. 'I see you in a great many ways. It would be hard to blind me in all of them.

Grief, Eye, Would Be

Could I make you believe something that wasn't true?' He studied her through his eyelashes. 'You could make me believe anything at all.

Believe, Eyelashes

It was like him, too, to love her and admit to it before he knew if she loved him. Maybe only mortals expected to barter their hearts.

Heart, Expected, Ifs

Emma Bull (2004). “War for the Oaks: A Novel”, p.251, Macmillan

She has her own glamour, Willy lad. All poets do, all the bards and artists, all the musicians who truly take the music into their own hearts. They all straddle the border of Faerie, and they see into both worlds. Not dependably into either, perhaps, but that uncertainty keeps them honest and at a distance.

Distance, Heart, Artist

It occurs to me to wonder: do I believe in any god, or even positively not believe, as James does? I believe in systems and methods. I believe in the beauties of philosophy and poetry. I believe that the work we do and leave behind us is our afterlife; and I believe that history lies, but sometimes so well that I can't bring myself to resent it. I believe that truth is beauty, but not, I'm afraid, the reverse. It doesn't seem sufficient to sustain one in life's rigorous moments. Perhaps I shall embrace Islam. Its standards for poetry seem very high.

Lying, Philosophy, Believe

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