Quotessence
Home / Books / The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

Book by Amy Hempel · 43 quotes · Thinking, Knows, Ifs

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingKnowsIfsMenMotherDiedGoneI CanMindPersonsThreeAliveAsksBabyBodyChildrenDiesDogFeelsGlad

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Quotes

“I think of the chimp, the one with the talking hands. In the course of the experiment, that chimp had a baby. Imagine how her trainers must have thrilled when the mother, without prompting, began to sign her newborn. Baby, drink milk. Baby, play ball. And when the baby died, the mother stood over the body, her wrinkled hands moving with animal grace, forming again and again the words: Baby, come hug, Baby come hug, fluent now in the language of grief.”

ThinkingPlayBodyHandsMovingMotherCoursesLanguageAnimalGriefTalkingGraceImagineBabyDrinkBallsDiedExperimentsMilkHugAgain And AgainTrainersNewbornFluentNewborn BabyDrink Milk
Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Create image

“A five-hour flight works out to three days and nights on land, by rail, from sea to shining sea. You can chalk off the hours on the back of the seat ahead. But seventy-some hours will not seem so long to you if you tell yourself first: This is where I am going to be for the rest of my natural life.”

IfsFirstsLongSeemsNightThreeHoursNaturalFiveSeaLandShiningWork OutFlightSeatsSeventiesDay And NightRailChalkNatural Life
Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Create image

“I have written letters that are failures, but I have written few, I think, that are lies. Trying to reach a person means asking the same question over and over again: Is this the truth, or not? I begin this letter to you, then, in the western tradition. If I understand it, the western tradition is: Put your cards on the table.”

IfsThinkingTryingMeanPersonsLyingWrittenTraditionLettersAskingTablesWesternCardsCards On The Table
Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Create image

“The worst of it is over now, and I can't say that I am glad. Lose that sense of loss—you have gone and lost something else. But the body moves toward health. The mind, too, in steps. One step at a time. Ask a mother who has just lost a child, How many children do you have? "Four," she will say, "—three," and years later, "Three," she will say, "—four.”

YearsMindChildrenI CanBodyMovingMotherThreeAsksLostLosesLossStepsGoneFourWorstGladOne Step At A Time
Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Create image

“Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the porch, absently picking ticks engorged like grapes off the sleeping dogs. And when the men kissed the women good night, and their weekend whiskers scratched the women's cheeks, the women did not think shave, they thought stay.”

ThinkingMenChildrenNightSleepDogHe ManBedWeekendCheeksCigaretteGrapesGood NightTickPorchUpstairsWhiskersSleeping Dogs
Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Create image