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Joan Didion

Joan Didion Quotes

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Famous Joan Didion Quotes

“But the fact of it was that I liked it out there, a ruin devoid of human vanities, clean of human illusions, an empty place reclaimed by the weather where a woman plays an organ to stop the wind's whining and an old man plays ball with a dog named Duke. I could tell you that I came back because I had promises to keep, but maybe it was because nobody asked me to stay.”

MenHumansPlayFactsDogWindPromiseIllusionEmptyBallsCleanWeatherRuinsVanityOld ManOrgansDukesWhiningEmpty Places
Book:Slouching towards Bethlehem
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“prepare a little hot tea or broth and it should be brought to them . . . without their being asked if they would care for it. Those who are in great distress want no food, but if it is handed to them, they will mechanically take it ' ... There was something arresting about the matter-of-fact wisdom here, the instinctive understanding of the physiological disruptions... I will not forget the instinctive wisdom of the friend who, every day for those first few weeks, brought me a quart container of scallion-and-ginger congee from Chinatown. Congee I could eat. Congee was all I could eat.”

IfsWantShouldFirstsLittlesMatterFactsCareUnderstandingForgetWeekHotTeaDistressMatter Of FactDisruptionContainersPhysiologicalGingerArrestingChinatownHot Tea
Author:Joan Didion
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“In fact I no longer value this kind of memento. I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted. There was a period, a long period, dating from my childhood until quite recently, when I thought I did. A period during which I believed that I could keep people fully present, keep them with me, by preserving their mementos, their "things," their totems.”

PeopleWantKindLongFactsValuesLostChildhoodBrokenPeriodsDatingRemindersTotemsMemento
Book:Blue Nights (Enhanced Edition)
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“It occurs to me as I write that this "white light," usually presented dippily (evidence of afterlife, higher power), is in fact precisely consistent with the oxygen deficit that occurs as blood flow to the brain decreases. "Everything went white," those whose blood pressure has dropped say of the instant before they faint.”

WritingFactsLightWhiteBrainBloodHigherEvidenceFlowPressureInstantConsistentAfterlifeOxygenDeficitDecreaseHigher PowerBlood PressureWhite LightBlood Flow
Book:The Year of Magical Thinking
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