“You can't out-travel sadness. I travel not to get away from my troubles but to see how they look in front of famous buildings” LooksTroubleSadnessFrontsBuildingGet Away Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“truthfully, this is the fabric of all my fantasies: love shown not by a kiss or a wild look or a careful hand but by a willingness for research. i don’t dream of someone who understands me immediately, who seems to have known me my entire life, who says, i know me too. i want someone keen to learn my own strange organization, amazed at what’s revealed; someone who asks, and then what, and then what?” KnowsWantLooksDreamHandsSeemsAsksMy OwnKnownFantasyStrangeKissingResearchOrganizationCarefulWillingnessFabricKnow MeAmazedUnderstand MeFantasy Love Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“Despite popular theories, I believe people fall in love based not on good looks or fate but on knowledge. Either they are amazed by something a beloved knows that they themselves do not know; or they discover a common rare knowledge; or they can supply knowledge to someone who's lacking. Hasn't everyone found a strange ignorance in someone beguiling? . . .Nowadays, trendy librarians, wanting to be important, say, Knowledge is power. I know better. Knowledge is love.” PeopleKnowsBelieveLooksImportantFallFoundI BelieveCommonFateIgnoranceStrangeTheoryFalling In LoveDespiteBelovedLackingAmazedLooking GoodLibrarianKnowledge Is PowerTrendy Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“For some people, history is simply what your wife looks good standing in front of. It’s what’s cast in bronze, or framed in sepia tones, or acted out with wax dummies and period furniture. It takes place in glass bubbles filled with water and chunks of plastic snow; it’s stamped on souvenir pencils and summarized in reprint newspapers. History nowadays is recorded in memorabilia. If you can’t purchase a shopping bag that alludes to something, people won’t believe it ever happened.” PeopleIfsBelieveLooksWaterWifeHappenedFrontsPeriodsStandingFilledCastsGlassesNewspapersSnowToneBagsShoppingBubblesPlasticPencilsFurnitureChunksFramedBronzeSouvenirsDummyMemorabilia Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“Can I tell you something? It wasn't so bad. Not so bad at all right then, me scowling at the dirt, James in his bed, the way it always always was. Look, if that's all that happened, if his dying just meant that I would be waiting for him to say something instead of listening to him say something, it would have been fine.” IfsWayLooksHas BeensWould BeWaitingHappenedDyingListeningFineBedDirt Author:Elizabeth McCracken