“I come from food the way some people come from money. Food was the medium I grew up in, what we talked about, what shaped our days.” PeopleWayFoodGrewGrew UpCookingMediumsCulinary Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“Librarian like Stewardess, Certified Public Accountant, Used Car Salesman is one of those occupations that people assume attract a certain deformed personality.” PeopleUsedCertainCarPersonalityAssumingOccupationLibrarianSalesmanAccountantsUsed CarStewardessCar SalesmanUsed Car SalesmanCertified Public Accountant Book:The Giant's House Source: The Giant's House
“but you can't spend your whole life hoping people will ask you the right questions. you must learn to love and answer the questions they already ask.” PeopleWholeAsksAnswersWhole LifeRight Questions Book:The Giant's House Source: The Giant's House
“People think librarians are unromantic, unimaginative. This is not true. We are people whose dreams run in particular ways. Ask a mountain climber what he feels when he sees a mountain; a lion tamer what goes through his mind when he meets a new lion; a doctor confronted with a beautiful malfunctioning body. The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder.” PeopleThinkingWayFeelsMindBookIdeasDreamBodyRunningBeautifulAsksWonderParticularMountainDoctorsAnd LoveLibraryEndlessLionsLibrarianClimbersLove And FearLove And CourageMountain Climbers Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“And while I was not an admirer of people in the specific, I liked them in the abstract. It is only the execution of the idea that disappoints.” PeopleIdeasAbstractExecutionDisappointAdmirer Book:The Giant's House Source: The Giant's House
“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
“All I can say is, it's a sort of kinship, as though there is a family tree of grief. On this branch, the lost children, on this the suicided parents, here the beloved mentally ill siblings. When something terrible happens, you discover all of the sudden that you have a new set of relatives, people with whom you can speak in the shorthand of cousins.” PeopleChildrenI CanHappensLostSpeakParentGriefTreeTerribleIllBelovedBranchesCousinSiblingKinshipMentally IllShorthandLost Child Author:Elizabeth McCracken
